Distant Past, Closer Future
by Noxious Photon
Summary: Nick finds himself deciding to work with agent Jack Savage in a new unit that specializes in undercover infiltration and information gathering. But the fox soon finds out that this decision will change the course of his life along a different path then expected, a path filled with both tragedy as well as love.
1. Tragedy and Friendship Part 1

The gazelle looked down at her note pad and wrote down a few notes on her mind. Taking a moment to recollect her thoughts she put down the pad and looked over at the somewhat annoyed fox patient across from her, letting out a small sigh.

"Okay officer Wilde, I want you to once again describe the events that happened to you that-"

"Oh come on Doc how many times am I going to have to do this, I thought on my last day here I could just get a few words of warning, a little friendly slap on the wrist, I walk out of here and move on with life."

The female gazelle sighed once again, giving the fox a somewhat impatient gaze.

"For the last, and very last time Mr. Wilde it is Mrs. Rosaria to you, I told you my first name to get you to open up so at the very least you can say that, in full."

Nick rolled his eyes before sitting forward in his seat towards the Gazelle.

"Right.. Jessica, I've told you this story at least six times now. I've been here many many times and I'm really, genuinely over it as much as a fox can be, I got better things in my life now, I've moved on to better pastures."

The fox went back to leaning against his chair relaxing himself as he turned his head almost smugly at the gazelle.

"You know at this point you've almost made me completely desensitized to telling you this rather personal story of mine, is that part of the plan? Make me perhaps just say it so many times I forget how tragic it is?" Nick said in his somewhat more joking mannerism.

Jessica took off her glasses and looked at him.

"Look Nick, I **know** you're sick of talking about it.. and I know you seem almost entirely over what happened, and that's fantastic, I do this specifically to help people do exactly that. But this is required as a last statement for my office, not to mention the multiple times you've tried lying or feigning your way out of leaving early even when you were anything but fine. I know you won't try to hide your emotions now, believe me I was able to tell from the very beginning when you tried putting on that little "mask" of yours, but I need to 100% confirm it again ok? So please, start from the beginning, go through the races, and you'll be out for good."

Nick could appreciate how Jessica always knew when to get to the point and cut past any bullshit, she wasn't quite as good as helping him as his little bunny friend had been but he understood that coming here was required for officers having gone through this type of ordeal. Nick stopped his usual joking around and closed his eyes letting out a small sigh.

"Alright fine I'll bite, so long as you keep your word. As you know It started with Jack…"

* * *

"Alright officers, He should be coming down any minute now. I want everyone to be at full attention when he arrives, if you think you have been through hell and high water you'd be wrong after meeting this man. Anyone one of you in his position would have pissed their pants on the first two days of the job, and.."

The chief put on his reading glasses briefly whilst looking at some papers in his hands, briefly scanning them before putting them away.

"For I suppose reasons somewhat unknown he has personally decided to come back to Zootopia and work in a special forces sector of our station… which we haven't had until now. And before any of you ask questions its part of our new mayor's initiative for preventing some of the deeper crime that has taken a hold of our city due to the now infamous night howler case. Jack will tell you more of the details himself."

Nick looked over at his partner to the right of him, noticing that the bunny had an abnormally excited face on, eyes open wide with an almost dumb smile on her face, in fact it almost seemed like she couldn't stand still. Nick cocked a slightly confused eyebrow at her before looking over at the chief to see where he was; he carefully leaned himself in towards her and whispered

"If you get any more excited I'm going to start to worry you'll literally hop right out of your spot, what's the deal with this Jack guy anyways."

Judy looked over at Nick a bit surprised.

"You don't know of Jack? I thought surely at some point I'd have mentioned him to you."

Nick pondered for a moment.

"Hmmm nope, I don't recall his name being brought up at any point during your drunken escapades at the bar, is he a past lover you're too ashamed to talk about even when you're hammered?"

Nick said with a slightly cocky grin while still being somewhat wary of Bogo now standing on the other side of all the ZPD officers in line. Judy rolled her eyes a little with a smile on her face.

"Well for your information he actually IS a bunny, and even one from my home town. Buuut we had never met, he's fairly older than me and left at an even younger age then I did; if I'm the first bunny ZPD officer then he's the first bunny M16 agent. Aced his tests in almost every category, and has been known as one of the best agents around, though he isn't too well known to the public eye for… reasons. Really I only know about him due to some of my cousins, He was a huge inspiration to me for becoming a cop and being where I am today!"

"Hmmm is that so.."

Nick said somewhat plainly but with just a tinge of jealousy in his voice that Judy picked up on.

"Hey easy slick It isn't anything more than admiration, not that you really have anything to be jealous of. Just think of it like this.. if It wasn't for him, I may not be here right now, and so we may have never meet each other or become partners."

Nick let out a small chuckle showing off his usual almost bored looking smile.

"Well then perhaps I'll have to thank him personally, just so long as you two don't get personal."

And just as Nick finished his sentence to Judy a car drove rather quickly right up in front of all the officers and parked in front of the ZPD building. A large broad Tiger in a very nice suit and sunglasses popped out of the back of the car. He walked up to the front where the passenger seat was and opened up the door, everyone on the force standing still and eagerly waiting for what the bunny would look like.

Most were expecting a tall muscular bunny that was 10x the height of a normal rabbit, some rumors even going around that the only way he could have done so many missions successfully in such a short time span was because he was a part of some weird biological experiment. But in the end when he hopped out of the car, literally, and took of his sunglasses to look at the officers he was in every way and shape a bunny. He was only somewhat tall for a bunny, of normal stature, unique black strokes of fur on his cheeks and an always cute but discerningly suave face.

Nick let out a very low whistle as he saw him leave the car that he knew only Judy would hear from him.

"Now that's quite a handsome rabbit there, are you sure he didn't seduce his way to the top?"

Judy gave Nick a somewhat surprised yet not so serious grin to the fox.

"Nicholas Wilde I didn't know you swung that way!" Judy said in a joking manner.

"Well excuse me for saying something nice about another male's looks Mrs. Try everything. Besides you don't know that, for all you know I like both genders equally; In fact maybe I just have a thing for bunnies, after all I partnered up with you and listen to your incessant complaining every day."

"Ssshh quiet quiet he's coming." Judy said in a slightly hushed yet very excited tone as he walked up to the group now eyeing at each one individually.

He walked down the isle of officers giving them a very discerning look with an equally cool demeanor and smile, almost like he was trying to suck information out of all of them.

 _Hmmm.. Incredibly nervous cheetah that eats too much, probably front desk. A typical proud lion that probably relies a bit too much on instinct. An experienced hardened rhino who's probably seen almost as much action as the chief._ Jack then suddenly stopped in the middle of the isle looking over at Nick and Judy. _So these are the two officers Bogo has personally recommended to me… A very cocky looking fox with an astonishing amount of confidence considering his position, and a very enthusiastic bunny from my own home town, the oddest pair of the bunch and by fair in large the one that stands out the most. If I had to pick for myself I'd almost be biasedly interested in these two over any of the others, luckily it seems according to the chief that their skills are as outmatched for as much as they stick out._

"Officers!"

Jack suddenly shouted making everyone flinch just ever so slightly with maybe the exception Nick.

"My name is Jack Savage and from this point on, with the exception of perhaps walking into the building or not directly being on a case, you probably won't be seeing much if any of me. The special unit designed by the mayor was specifically tailored to my own interests, my specialty as an M16 agent and as such is as undercover as possible; almost none of you will see any change in your life from my appearance except for of course the chief himself, and a pair of handpicked officers, Bogo?"

Everyone in line started to murmur slightly to each other in curiosity and slight confusion as Bogo cleared his throat.

"Sense there is simply not enough resources or time for Jack to pick out two of the most competent officers here for himself I have already hand selected the two that will be joining, if they so voluntarily wish, Jack's unique special unit. These two picked officers I feel in my opinion have been exceptional in all regards, cracking some of the most dangerous cases our unit has had to deal with to date and an incredible almost spotless track record for the short time they've been here."

All the other officers started to groan quietly and put their heads down as it became painfully obvious who he was talking about, with Nick keeping an upright posture and his usual smug grin while Hops had an even more excited smile keeping upright as well. Chief Bogo ignored everyone's reactions and continued.

"I'm talking of course about the pair Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps. If you so choose you will be-"

"Ooohh yes yes yesss!"

Judy suddenly shouted while hopping up in the air with her arms out being unable to contain her excitement, only to be given an unenthusiastic stare from chief Bogo as she stopped smiling and went back in posture.

"Ah uhm sorry heh… continue"

Chief Bogo looked back at the two as a whole.

"If you so choose you will be officially part of this special unit and be under direct order of Jack while also working side by side with him, you will answer to him first before me with anything having to do with the specific unit's cases. You're normal ZPD officer activates will be postponed until you are no longer involved with the unit, and due to the sever increase in danger and urgency you will be given a suitable increase in pay a long with a somewhat less consistent scheduling. Do you two accept this position knowing this?"

Judy with a determined smile saluted and said

"Yes sir!"

Nick right afterward also saluted somewhat less enthusiastically but still happily and said

"Yes sir."

Chief Bogo nodded at the two and put his hands behind his back.

"Alright then officers, any questions or information needed from the ZPD you can still report to me however you're primary boss, if you wish to call him that, will be Jack. Everyone.. dismissed!"

And with that everyone quickly dispersed murmuring and talking with one another, Nick and Judy sticking together doing the same as they entered the building.

"Well that was quite unexpected."

Nick said as Judy made an almost sighing laugh as if letting out all the pent up excitement she had

"Yeah haha wow.. I can't believe we got picked to be on this super special secret unit, how awesome is that!"

Nick pointed a finger casually at Judy as they continued walking.

"Well I wasn't quite thinking that, I mean we are already by far much more significantly cooler, cuter, handsomer, smarter, stylish, cunning, self-loathing, fluffier-"

Judy pushed his partner roughly interrupting his listing."Oh just get to the point you dumb fox!"

Nick smiled down at his partner rubbing the side of his waist.

"Well sense you asked so nicely~ Once you told me about who he was I wasn't really surprised in anything the chief said in his little speech, really what's unexpected is the fact that this all took place outside the ZPD building."

Judy looked at him a little confused. "Wada mean?"

Nick put a finger lightly on his chin."Well when I think about it it just.. doesn't really make much sense to me. You'd think Information about an M16 agent slipping in here wouldn't be made so publicly and flashy like that. I mean having all the officers outside for the world to see, letting everyone know there's some kind of secret unit, what's the point in doing all that if it's supposed to be undercover?"

"That's because it's part of the Mayors initiative."

Jack suddenly said standing behind the two, who stopped and looked back surprised to see him.

"Oh Jack!" Judy called out to him as he smiled rather coolly at the two.

"The mayor wants the people of Zootopia to know that he's taking the extra mile to protect them after the incident with the previous two mayors; while having a secret unit nobody knows about is technically more beneficial it won't get that message across to the general public, so it is a little bit of a publicity stunt honestly. That being said, nobody but us will know exactly "what" we are doing other then something secret."

Jack put his hand out too the two of them and smiled.

"Jack Savage, nice to meet you."

Nick was the first to put out his hand to greet him looking somewhat down at him.

"Well good to meet another fellow bunny then, you know when I heard you're name I thought perhaps you'd be some overly serious no fun spy but I've gotta hand it to yah, you've made a good first impression, really slick introduction too."

And to both Nick's and Judy's surprise his smile widened a bit and he actually laughed a little, the action taking away from his previous cool demeanor somewhat.

"Well I just so happened to overhear you two as I was trying to catch up and just said what came to mind, I tend to do things pretty on the fly sometimes so I'm glad it came out well."

After Nick was done Judy immediately went up to shake his hand rather rigorously.

"Oh my gosh Jack your like.. I can't believe you're here! You've been suuucchh an inspiration for me ever sense I was a young doe, you are the reason I had the determination to leave my home and train to become a cop and work up the courage to come here and gosh your also so much nicer and friendly then I thought I thought you might be mean like Nick said butyouractuallyseemreally."

Judy sank down a little bit still holding Jack's hand taking a sudden really long exasperated breathe of air before talking again.

"Cool… heh.."

Jack simply continued to smile cooley at Judy. "Ah well I'm glad to see someone else from Bunny burrow on the force, the first ever bunny officer, alongside no less the first ever fox officer! Oh and the rumors about spy's being super self-absorbed are.. mostly untrue anyways. In reality being an I suppose you could say charming asshole in delicate situations comes off as just being an asshole, it's important to keep emotions in check and all that but a good personality is a huge part of being in my department. Luckily the cases here won't be as extreme so you won't be going through rigorous personality tests."

* * *

"Nick your reminiscing a bit too much again."

Nick looked over at the gazelle confused at first but then caught himself. "Ah right right..."

He scratched the back of his neck a little. "Jeez and I was even the one who said I wanted to hurry up and leave huh."

The gazelle shook her head. "It's quiet alright Nick, It's a very healthy sign that your doing so. Tell you what, how about we skim, just a little bit, through the cases itself until we get to near the end of the important one."

Nick nodded and laid back a little in his rather long cozy chair, trying to relax again.

"Well as you know after that me and Judy had quiet some.. crazy stuff happen. We had a little extra personal training from Jack himself to make sure we were ready for some more under cover type work instead of parading in our uniforms all the time. And.. the very first case was probably one of the worst ones too.."

* * *

"Just so you know, this is NOT what I signed up for when I wanted to be on this case…"

Nick said very irritated as the two bunnies helped to put a bit of extra make up on Nick, Jack going behind him to adjust his dress a little bit.

"Look there's no helping it. One of the biggest drug dealers in town that is going to start spreading the new drug is absolutely showing up to the gay bar tonight. And not only is he going there to promote his drug in a very show-offy fashion to multiple important business partners, but he also has a very well-known affinity towards effeminate men there, specifically ones in girly clothing."

Nick still only looked incredibly irritated as Hopps started putting eyeliner on him.

"Yeah and uh what's so bad about this drug that I have to show up seducing some weasel looking like this again? Can't we just find the next big drug dealer that's maybe into cute bunny twins and you two can seduce him?"

Judy went on her tip-toes to apply a bit of powder to Nick's cheeks.

"Oh come on Nick this is serious. The drugs are part of the same serum Bellwether and her cronies were making for their insane plan. Of course I'd be pointless just making people go purely feral so I'm sure its much more subdued and not permanent, but it's still a dangerous un-tested drug, who knows what the side effects could be."

Jack finished adjusting the dress and looked back at the two.

"Not to mention the reports show the drugs themselves are mostly only useful for gaining an edge on fighting or killing, the only other use such a strong drug would have would be maybe for sex or for animals in heat to lose themselves, so to speak. But If it's any constellation, you look very cute in that dress." Jack said cockily and a bit teasingly.

Nick looked back over at Jack with a smug but still somewhat irritated look.

"Hmm I don't know slick don't you think this costume would look better on you? I mean you bunnies are already so cute and effeminate maybe you should be the one going in their instead of me, I bet you'd get a lot more heads turning with that cute little bunny tail sticking out of this dress."

Jack crossed his arms still sporting a bit of a cocky grin.

"Well for your information Nick I actually have had to dress like a woman for a mission before, and it was indeed quiet.. effective. However that being said, the weasel we are after only like's predators, he has very… specific interests."

* * *

Nick stared up at the ceiling with a somewhat nervous and irritated look on his face squinting his eyes a bit, almost like he was back at this exact moment having to deal with the situation again.

"Uh doc can I.. please just skip ahead of this case a little."

Jessica looked down at her notepad. "I did tell you to skim if you wish, at least talk about the end of it."

* * *

The weasel cackled loudly as he held the somewhat nervous nick around his side in a dress. He was in a private room on the second floor of a rather well known gay club, attending the somewhat luxurious VIP area that had some of the less then legal acts take place, and not just sexually. Nick was the closest to him but there were a few other most likely male animals in dresses around some of the other businessmen listening to him.

"I'm telling you men this stuff right here"

The weasel bangs the suitcases in front of him with his paw before lying back down in the couch.

"Is the next big hit my friends. Once you get this night howler stuff its easy as hell to make, you can produce hundreds of edible pellets to consume and one will be more than enough to get anyone going, not to mention they look like blue berries! Easy to disguise visually, but smell wise we are still working on it, it is new after all. But gentlemen trust me when say this is a good business venture, this is what we call the future of drugs."

The men in suits looked at each other with agreeing smiles and even murmured a few positive words to one another, also feeling somewhat inebriated from the strong drinks and dressed up animals hugging next to them.

Nick tried his best to seem somewhat seductive with the rest of them but was a little bit too uneasy to fully play the role; he was recording the whole conversation with the carrot that they actually disguised to look like it may be a vibrator if anyone were to see it. As the weasel looked at the business men rather cockily he started to hug Nick a little closer to himself and put his head up towards him while taking another swig of his cocktail, Nick smiling down at the weasel rather nervously.

 _Come on you dumb drug dealers take the damn offer already, and say it loudly!_

The one seemingly in charge of the deal on the other table coughed slightly into his hand to get the weasel's attention and smiled. "Alright then Weezer, I think this drug will have a lot of good use in the future, with some refinement it can be a force to be reckoned with, you have yourself a deal!" The two shook hands as the weasel cackled with excitement. _Got him!_ Without hesitation Nick shoved his hand into his pocket, stopped the recording, and clicked another button on the carrot.

Within almost seconds the door to the night club got completely busted open as Mchorn was the first to enter it.

"THIS IS THE ZPD, GET DOWN ON THE GROUN!"

And quickly following the subsequent screams and people freaking out Delgato and Fangmeyer rushed into the building past the Rhino holding pistols, while all the other ZPD members already starting to surround the building.

The dealers upstairs instantly heard the racket and without even a single word started to scatter and take off almost like it was natural instinct. Weezer himself looked around suspiciously before making an immediate move.

"Shit how did they know.."

The weasel got up tugging slightly at Nick. "Come on baby, I'll get us out of here, I still have some plans with you~"

And just a second afterward Nick instantly smacked him right in the back of the head taking him out instantly. As the weasel fell to the ground Nick put his heel on Weezer looking down at him.

"I don't think so... Sweetheart."

"Nick!"

he heard the familiar phrase from his partner as he looked over at the window, seeing Judy as well as Jack enter.

"Nick.. are you alright?"Judy said somewhat concerned as Nick gave his usual smug grin.

"Well you know aside from maybe a few red marks on my ass and a very deep feeling of shame and regret… yah I'm doing fine, how about you?"

Jack laughed a bit and gave him a strong pat on the back looking up at him.

"I'm glad you're unhurt, you did a convincing act out there! Couldn't have done it better myself."

Jack gave him a proud and approving grin as Nick's own grin turned a bit more serious.

"Oh stop it, if you continue talking like that you're gonna make this lady blush."

Judy went up to Nick and hugged him lightly with a little bit of a laugh.

"You know that dress does suit you in an odd way, maybe we should keep it?"

Nick chuckled lightly looking down at his partner and putting an arm around her.

"Well while getting your affectionate approval about my dress is quiet lovely, I think I'd prefer to throw it away and perhaps forget this enter thing happened."

* * *

"But no there was no forgetting that case, because unbeknownst to Judith I would have to go to a psychiatrist and talk about it over.. and over and over, until eventually the shame inside me grew so deep that I wouldn't even be able to look at a dress ever again."

Jessica rolled her eyes a bit. "Well… unlike some of the times in the past you're not just using your humor to hide your emotions so, I'll allow it."

The Gazelle jotted down some notes and looked up to surprisingly see the fox looking at her somewhat seriously.

"Do I really gotta say all these cases again? I mean I know it's important to you know the buildup of the story and relationships, friendships, blah blah blah but, even you must be getting a little tired right? Look next case is we bust the second big deal going on in the underground bar but Jack goes undercover by himself for that one and I just show up last minute, then me and Jack go to the third one pretending to be interested business men and once again barley any hicks, a few scratch marks and boom all three are in jail… Then finally the last one with me and Judy and the supplier."

Jessica looked at the fox with a somewhat blank expression as there was silence for a small while between the two. She seemed to think to herself for a brief moment before she looked down at her note pad again while speaking.

"Nick.. do me a favor. I know this is the important one but I want you to specifically try to skim through the case itself, not what happens afterward just the case."

Nick looked at her a little confusingly.

"Uhm.. I guess I can try but, is there at least a reason? Or are you just finally just sick of me and this story."

The gazelle jotted something else down. "Yes there is reasoning for it, please try your best."

Nick looked back up and contemplated for a while.

"… Me and Judy prepared an entire week for this one. There was no undercover stuff like last time, Jack said he didn't want to do this but the main and big supplier making all the drugs was now the final threat and his location was fickle, the fact we found him at all was incredibly lucky. Despite the reluctance we basically had no choice, if we didn't id be another year of investigating and taking down popping up drug dealers, versus the chance of making the drug potentially permanently gone and banned as illegal right away. So me and Judy trained our asses off for the next few weeks after this discovery to infiltrate and be practically spies."

"… Tell me, what was the reasoning Jack didn't go with you again?" Jessica said briefly intervening into his story.

Nick chuckled as a light smile crept up on his face.

"Is this for some kind of psychological information or are you just invested in the story again?"

He paused briefly but didn't wait for an answer from the Gazelle.

"Well it was as simple as the guy knew Jack's face, apparently back in young Jack's M16 Zootopia days he had fought the guy directly and shut down some other previous operation but failed to jail him, he said he always knew he'd pop up again. But oddly enough that wasn't the reason he came back to Zootopia, it was just a coincidence. But getting back to the main plot at hand, the mission was just me and Hopps going into this place with a very meticulous time efficient plan. We knocked out the front guards just a few moments before their shift switch, got the key cards, infiltrated the ducts, memorized the details of every guard position and location of the enemy so that nobody would even know we were there.. it went smoothly until we got to the office itself."

Nick paused for brief moment as his face and tone turned a bit plainer.

"Apparently we got unlucky, a guard was in the wrong spot at the wrong time, free loading and taking a break when he shouldn't and.. saw carrots take out a guy. Despite the fact that he was the one slacking not doing his job he made a smart decision, didn't sound the alarm and went straight to the guy himself saying that we were here. They waited.. we fell into the trap."


	2. Tragedy and Friendship Part 2

"So it was you two who had been completely blowing up my inner workings huh?"

The very large buff cheetah said to Nick and Judy with multiple men pointing guns at them.

"But.. it looks like you're final plan went sour in the end, and you're luck ran out."

He stared at the two silently for a moment, Nick and Judy not saying a word. In the back of their minds both of them knew where this was going, there was no need for crass dialogue or shouting, there was no back up and they knew the consequences of getting caught. The two merely held their hands together and boldly looked at the man as the Cheetah scoffed at them. He picked up a brief case that was laying down on his desk in front of them.

"Everything I've built my new empire on is in this brief case, the equations and know how on how to make the drug, and only I and a few chemists truly know. And I aim to keep it that way… men, you know what to do."

The cheetah turned away as the men prepared their guns, Nick and Judy's hand clutching together tighter and closing their eyes as they prepared for the worst. But almost at the same time as the triggers were being pulled a massive explosion shook the entire building, even specifically tilting the area they were in. the guns were being fired randomly as everyone started stumbling, and without hesitation the two started to sprint at the windows tilting toward the ground.

But as they were running and even jumping straight through the glass a few of the stray bullets ended up hitting Judy a few times in the chest but missing Nick. As they were falling Nick immediately noticed her fumble and helped her to land safely down on the ground, Judy ending up collapsing on the floor and in Nick's arms as a result. Neither had any idea what was going on around them at the time. In less than a minute everything was in complete chaos from the explosions, sounds of bullets, buildings collapsing, shouting.. and even Nick swore he saw some strange figures covered in black move around the building, but Nick was blanking on all of it, none of it mattered to him at that very when he saw his hurt partner in front of him.

He looked down at her with wide shaken eyes as he saw her chest start to bleed out, her eyes already closed.

"Judy! Judy come on speak to me!"

Nick gently shook Judy trying to wake her up, in hopes of getting at least some kind of response from her. He knew shaking her wouldn't really wake her up or even help the situation, but even so he continued to shake her a few times in a desperation. Nick started to grip at her a little bit tighter as tears started to form in his eyes.

"Come on Judy you can't leave yet, I still need you! You're the reason I got here!"

But as Nick was starting to feel his emotions well up at the unconscious bunny before he was suddenly brought back to reality by another explosion. This explosion was so close enough to him that he almost got knocked down from the impact. Looking back behind him and seeing more rubble start to fall down he quickly got up on his somewhat shaken feet and held Judy carefully in his arms as he made for an escape; occasionally looking down to make sure he wasn't jostling her too much.

"Don't worry Judy, I'll get you to a hospital right away, It'll be okay! Were both going to make it out of this together alright…"

* * *

Nick stopped talking for a moment and blankly looked at the ceiling again before letting out a very long sigh and folding his arms behind his head, closing his eyes.

"But… I was wrong. She didn't make it out of there. Although she made it to the hospital itself.. it was still all the same. Bullets near the artery, an almost impossible surgery.. there was just no way.."

Nick tapped his fingers a bit nervously on himself before turning himself to his side almost like he was lying in a bed rather than an inclined chair.

"But as some would say I got lucky that we got to exchange a few final words… you know, glass half full, for all those uppity positive animals out there."

The Gazelle observed Nick turned away from her for a brief moment before jotting something down in her note, she spoke in a somewhat less dead pan and more caring tone.

"So what happened afterward Nick."

Nick paused again before replying. "…Then I broke down. Standing near her newly popped up grave just a few days or so later."

* * *

The sound of a car quickly driving through the cemetery filled the otherwise stagnant air with sound. Parking his vehicle and quickly running out the door was Jack, practically sprinting towards Nick in the distance. Nick was sitting down on top of Judy's grave, the stone pilled to the brim with flowers and adornments as Nick just silently stared.

Jack somewhat out of breath panted behind Nick and stared at him briefly. He took a moment to catch calm his breathing before walking up a little closer, Nick not acknowledging him.

"Nick, how long have you been here."

Nick didn't flinch whatsoever at the rabbit's words, still staring blankly at the grave he responded coldly.

"…Does it matter?"

Jack drew out a long silence before sighing to himself and walking right behind Nick, putting a hand gently onto the still un-flinching fox.

"…I don't know if I can continue being on the force anymore Jack."

Jack was a little startled hearing him suddenly speak and put his ears down from hearing his words.

"Nick.. come on, please don't say that. We've only known each other for four months or so, but even then I can tell how much you love being on the force, no amount of jesting or bickering can hide that. Besides do you think that's what Judy would want?" He said in a very serious but not angry tone.

"…I already know what Judy wants."

Jack looked at him a bit inquisitively.

"So, you were able to talk to her. Can you.. tell me what she said."

Jack said in a caring but partially pleading tone. Although he badly wanted to support Nick he had also gotten to know Judy well too, and wanted to hear her last words. Nick himself caught on to that, and even though he was still dead pan replied to him.

"Nick…"

Judy said somewhat weakly but lovingly to the fox not too far from her.

"Judy!"

Nick ran up to her from the entrance of the medical building.

"Oh Judy your finally awake!"

Nick laughed somewhat nervously and with a strange mix of happiness and sadness as he caressed her cheek.

"Thank goodness I… I thought I…"

He wanted so badly to say lost, but he already knew what the doctors told him, and found himself unable to complete the sentence, his somewhat tearful joyous face turning into a frown and looking away from Judy. But Judy in response quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him closer to her.

"Nick… I already know, believe me if you know the doctors definitely told me." The bunny said with her usual optimistic though slightly weak grin and voice.

"They say the chance of the surgery tomorrow succeeding is.. slim to none."

Nick started to close his eyes again and held onto the bed as tightly as he could, trying hard to hold back his emotions in front of her.

"Don't you say that Judy… I.."

Judy without hesitation slowly brought her paw up to Nick's face and started to caress it slowly.

"Sssshhh… Nick.. it'll be ok…"

Nick started to calm down from the gentleness of the bunny's paw touching his cheek, leaning his head into it to feel more of her soft fur. He even started to giggle a little as he wiped some of his continuing tears.

"You dumb bunny.. I'm supposed to be the one counselling you."

Judy laughed weakly in response and put on smug grin.

"Emotional fox."

For a brief moment the two silently enjoyed each other's company as they held onto one another, the only exchange the two had was occasionally caressing and feeling each other up with their hands and head. Nick had even gotten down on his knees and started laying his head down somewhat close to her chest before Judy broke the silence.

"…Hey nick, I know were really enjoying the silence here but… visiting hours are getting close to over, and there's a few final things I want to say to you."

Nick lifted his head up from her chest and looked into Judy's eyes, despite being injured and hooked up she was still looking as lively as ever.

"…What is it Judy?"

Nick held on tightly to the bunny's weak paws as she smiled from the contact.

"If I don't end up making it out of the surgery there are three promises I want you to keep no matter what."

Nick only looked down lovingly at her. "Alright carrots, what are these three mystical things my bunny wants me to do."

She put up one finger on her paw. "Number one, stay a ZPD officer! Even as I'm gone crimes will always continue to go rampant in this city, and out of all the officers I know you can deal with it better than anyone, even if I am perhaps a bit biased toward my fox~."

Judy giggled a little at her statement but Nick only looked at her seriously. Judy in turn changed her expression back into a more serious one as well.

"I know it'll be hard without me but don't forget that you have Jack too. We come from the same town so I know he'll be good at supporting you, I know I don't have to tell you this but he's an incredibly sweet guy under that cool guise he likes to show sometimes, not to mention a good drinking buddy."

Nick giggled and smiled softly at Judy.

"Alright then.. what's number two."

Judy put up a second finger up. "Number two is that not only should you stay as a police officer, but I want Jack to be you're new partner. I think I shouldn't even have to explain my reasons for that one, you two get along just as well as I have with you."

Nick frowned a little bit at that last one.

"Carrots.. I mean, it's not like I disagree with you but even if I ask there's no guarantee I'll be assigned with him, especially considering the special unit may not be necessary now."

Judy only giggled a little at Nick's response.

"I already filled in the report and talked to the chief. Considering the situation and our somewhat odd success on the mission he had no choice but to guarantee it to me, plus there's no way Jack will say no."

Nick grinned a little toothily at Judy."Now that's my sly bunny."

He said as he started to caress Judy's head while she giggled a little bit more.

"And finally #3, the hardest one of the two."

She paused slightly for dramatic effect looking at Nick seriously as he only stared back inquisitively.

"…I want you to try to move on from me. We've spent so much time together that the thing I'm worried most about is not just you going back to your old ways… But you losing your happiness, not being able to recover like I've seen from so many other people in this city.."

Nick frowned and looked down at Judy, not only did he know that this was a tall order but it once again put in the front of his mind that after today Judy really would be gone from his life, forever. Judy immediately noticed the tears forming in Nick's eyes and looked up at him.

"Nick… come here.."

She opened up her arms and Nick instantly hugged her back putting his head down onto her body and breaking out in a sob. Judy simply kept embracing Nick tightly while patting his back as they enjoyed each other's warmth.

"…Please Nick… Promise…"

Jack looked down at the floor sadly hearing the last of Nick's words, who still continued to unemotionally sit down and stare at her grave. He knew the words he was thinking would cut deep into Nick, but it had to be said.

"…But Nick, if.. that's what she said, then you know quitting would break your promise."

"I know that!" Nick shouted out angrily and suddenly while pounding his fist into the ground.

"But!... but…"

his tone started to shift from anger into an almost distant sadness. The ball that was his fist on the ground loosened and his body started to shake until all that could be heard was Nick's tears.

"I know that but…. But how the hell am I supposed to go back to the ZPD like this huh? Move on like nothing happened, go back to being a goody police officer, how does she expect me to do any of that without her!"

Jack walked back up to the fox and without hesitation slumped his arms around the fox's neck and hugged him tightly, putting the side of his head slightly down on top of Nick's.

"Nick.. nobody is expecting you to move on like nothing happened, when Judy said she wanted you to move on she didn't mean to forget her. She wants you to continue to move up in life, continue to try to do the right thing, maybe find someone else to dote over. To continue… to try and lead a happy life."

"But…"

Nick replied suddenly stopping his hug and turning around, Jack finally getting a good look at his face. His fur was somewhat scruffy, his face covered in tears, his eyes red and filled with mixtures of guilt, depressing, loneliness, and so many other emotions that he couldn't even begin t process all at once. Nick looked straight into Jack's eyes with his own emotionally confused ones before saying anything.

"But… how the hell am I supposed to do that! I don't know what to do Jack!"

Nick then suddenly lunged himself somewhat forward into Jack hugging him tightly.

"I don't know what to do…"

Jack tried his best to hold back his own tears from seeing Nick in this state and thinking of Judy, he embraced Nick, trying his best to be his pillar of support.

"There there.."

He gave Nick a few good moments to let all of his tears out until he could only hear a few sniffles from the fox still hugging at him tightly on his knees.

"…Nick?"

Nick responded in a low tone before sniffing again.

"..Yeah."

Jack suddenly pulled back a little and grabbed the foxes head making him look at his eyes, a surprisingly confident smile being shown on Jack's face.

"I think I know where we can start."

* * *

Nick looked out the window of the passenger seat confused on where they were going. They had been driving for almost a good hour now and Jack refused to tell him where they were going, but it certainly wasn't anywhere close to the city. Nick sighed a little bit looking at Jack.

"Jack I don't think-"

"Where here."

He said suddenly interrupting him as the car stopped. Jack somewhat excitingly got out of the car and pointed at a strange railing somewhat far from the car.

"Let's go over there Nick, you first."

Nick had no idea what to expect but somewhat boredly started walking up to it. As he got closer he started talking again.

"Look Jack I know you have something odd planned here but I don't think I can… just… holy cheese and crackers.."

Nick said in awe as he went up to the railing and saw the site from the mountain top. It was Zootopia; in fact it was all of it. Never in all his life had he really been this far out in the wilderness or even out of Zootopia for that matter, and from this vantage point he saw an absolutely perfect view of the entire city. The section he lived in to tundra town to the Jungle… It was huge, massive and stood taller than anything even remotely close to it.

Jack walked up next to Nick smiling. "Impressive, isn't it?"

Nick kept looking at the site with his eyes still wide open and jaw practically dropped.

"It's more than impressive it's… absolutely stunning."

Jack smiled more looking up at Nick before looking at the site himself.

"You know this is where they say thousands of years ago our ancestors got the idea of Zootopia. A bunch of fugitives looking for a place to build and stay away from the war at the time, and they found this spot right here. If you put your hand in front of the railing you can actually feel a very strong wind… this wind rides all the way to Zootopia above the city. They say this view combined with the direction of the wind was a message, they saw the various types of landscapes that could be built in that once gigantic empty spot and that's where the idea popped up."

"I see.."

Was all Nick could say as he continued to stare.

"Oh and nick… here, this is what were here for."

Nick looked over at Jack and confusingly saw a weird pot in the bunny's hand

"Uh.. a vase?"

Jack shook his head. "An urn."

Nick was confused for a few seconds until it suddenly dawned on him as his ears went down in almost bewilderment.

"Is…is that."

Jack nodded. "It's Judy, she had actually asked to be cremated.. and she specifically made it so that I could have it. The grave is just a stone, so Judy isn't buried there."

Nick didn't respond and only stared down at the urn for a while mouth somewhat agape before looking back up at Jack.

"Do you want it?"

Jack suddenly said with a soft smile as Nick looked at him and nodded his head slowly, Jack carefully handing him the urn. He looked down the urn holding it carefully and even started stroking it slightly.

"Judy…" Nick said quietly under his breath as Jack looked at him somewhat sternly.

"Nick… Judy wants you to throw her ashes into the wind and throw the urn away too."

Nick looked quickly back at Jack almost like even suggesting that was offensive.

"What? I can't do that! I can't just.. just throw her away."

Jack continued looking at him sternly and with a serious yet somewhat caring tone.

"Nick… it's just ashes."

Nicks face turned somewhat sour in response as he turned away from Jack looking down at the urn."Don't say that…"

Jack a bit more softly approached him and put a paw on his back.

"Nick it isn't just discarding her… remember what I told you, these winds travel all the way to Zootopia. She wants you to spread her ashes over the city."

Nick looked down sadly at the urn. "But… but I.."

Suddenly Jack approached Nick from the front surprising him a little bit.

"Ok Nick this is going to sound dumb but listen carefully. I want you to hold the urn very close to you….. like right now."

Nick cocked an eyebrow at him. "Uhm.. ok.."

"Now close your eyes.."

Nick did as he said.

"Now.. start feeling the urn, caress it a bit.. calm your breath… and imagine as if Judy is right here with you, talking with you."

Nick made a condescending face even as his eyes were closed but regardless did as he said. He steadied his breath and tried to focus on images of Judy while relaxing.

 _Alright bunny what exactly is this going to accomplish huh? Is this some kind of voodoo ritual you have in place to make Judy just suddenly appear next to me here. I maybe a dumb fox but-_

"Nick.."

the foxes ears flicked a little bit at what he heard… it sounded like Judy.

"Nick!"

There it was again, indescribably her.

"J..Judy?" Nick said somewhat quietly as he kept his eyes closed.

"Well who else would it be you dumb fox?"

Nick couldn't believe what was happening, was he going insane? If he was he couldn't even care less right now as he let his emotions of joy completely carry him away.

"J-Judy I…I can't believe! Y-you're here I-"

"Nick… you have to let me go."

Nick halted his speech for a second almost surprised to hear her say that.

"Huh?.. Let you go Judy I-"

"Nick… I'm just a pile of ashes now, I'm long gone. I may have cremated myself but I'm not **really** there. Nick… do you know the reason why I wanted to be cremated?"

Nick paused for a moment. "To… be spread across Zootopia?"

Nick could hear the voice of Judy chuckling and even snorting a bit.

"Heh well yes ok that, I mean having your ashes flown all the way to Zootopia from the vantage point the guys that made the city saw how amazing is that! But.. actually Jack was the one that told me about that in the first place, he was the one that suggested I do this. And he didn't suggest it just for me; he also had you in mind Nick. The other reason, a thing both of us wanted, was too well… help you move on. Even as I'm talking to you right now I'm not here Nick, I'm gone."

Nick frowned a bit. "You don't need to keep reminding me.."

"I know and, I'm sorry but it needs to be said. But you know just cause I'm gone doesn't mean I've you know, been erased from existence. True we can't drink together anymore, and maybe I can't embarrass you when you're the one that gets to drunk occasionally, but you know.. those moments we shared, the pain and the happiness, it'll always be there in your head, In your memories. Heck I'm sure a part of me is with Jack too and even the ZPD, I may be gone but I'm not truly gone.. if that makes sense."

Nick chuckled a bit holding back some of his tears that started forming in the corner of his eyes.

"I know what you mean you dumb bunny, still not quite as smooth as the ol' fox would be about it though."

Nick could swear he could just see Judy rolling his eyes.

"Oh whatever you know what I mean Nick! Now I'm sure you could just spend the rest of your day talking to me but I think it's time for me to go."

Nick shook his head vigorously as if not wanting to accept her answer, hearing Judy sigh in response.

"Nick come on I can't be here all day. Please just remember what I said.. you're not alone."

Suddenly Nick could feel a small bunny paw touch him and hold him on the shoulder as he almost jumped in surprise.

"I'll be with you.. now and always forever, right here."

At that exact moment Nick also felt his heart do a little sudden thump as if someone had touched it directly. He knew nothing touched him there, but just from what Judy said Nick knew where she would have put her paw if she were really here right now.

Nick wasn't sure If Judy had somehow through some crazy spiritual séance gotten a chance to actually talk with him just now, or if this entire conversation was just played out in his grief filled head; but frankly he didn't care which one it was. Jack saw Nick start to open his eyes and quickly retreated his hand from his shoulder. Nick without looking back determinedly walked forward towards the wind with the urn in his hands.

With a small moment of hesitation he brought the urn up to the wind, took the lid and poured all of the ashes into the wind; soon afterward discarding the urn by throwing it off the railing and down the mountain. It wasn't too visible but he could still see some of the ashes be swept away by the wind as it headed all the way back to Zootopia.

Nick solemnly looked at the site as Jack looked over at him just as silently. After a few moments he walked closer towards Nick who was now looking out while kneeling his elbows on the railing.

"You know.. the reason I recommended this spot of all places wasn't just cause of the wind or even the view. When I was real young, my mom had actually died." Jack said with a light smile on his face, now leaning on the railing with Nick.

"We were one of the few family's to have less than 100 kids, so we were a pretty close to one another. I was one of the older siblings so… I didn't have as much support as maybe other bunnies would in my position, plus from the get go I was always a bit different than the others anyways.."

Jack looked out at the view of Zootopia.

"I was one of the only bunnies who had dreams of going to Zootopia and being a secret agent of all things. I was so hooked after I saw the movies, I started studying and dreaming about it every day. Nobody in my family took me that seriously, my siblings told me it was just a phase or a fantasy. The only person in my family who believed me when I said I was taking it seriously was my mom, she always told me that as long as I was passionate about it I should do it. But when she died I actually started doubting that goal for the first time in my life, it felt hard to move on. My dad seeing me so dejected from her death took me here and I saw this amazing view of the city! And as I was being swept away from the view still feeling emotional my dad gave me an urn, my mother's ashes. He told me to let them out into the wind and I refused. But my dad expected this and just chuckled at me with a smile. He went down on his knees to look at me and told me to hold the urn close to me, feel it, calm my breath, and relax. At first I thought it was just silly but then… I heard my mom call out to me."

Nicks ears twitched slightly at that statement as he continued to silently stare out in the city and listen to Jack.

"She said that as much as she wanted to stay and loved me, that she had to go. She said that I needed to move on to, to never give up my dreams because she was gone. She made me swear that one day I'd become the secret agent just like in the movies, that despite being a bunny it was possible. A moment later I released her ashes into the wind, and did as she said. And now well… here I am I guess."

Nick looked over at Jack with both a mixture of sadness, gratefulness, surprise, and a few other emotions he couldn't fully describe. He stared at the rabbit seeing the wind pass through his fur as he coolly looked off into the distance _._

 _I'm sure a part of me is with Jack too._

the words Judy had said to him echoed in his head as he stared at the bunny.

"….Jack?"

Jack turned his head and gave Nick a warm smile. "Hmm?"

But the bunny was suddenly was taken by surprise as the fox lunged at him for the second time today, bending himself downward and giving him a very strong hug.

"Thank you….. thank you so much, and… I'm sorry"

Jack giggled at his response and put on a bright smile hugging him back as a few small tears formed on the edges of his eyes.

"Don't mention it."

* * *

"And so after that we road back in the car, went to the ZPD and he immediately recommended me to you, and so began my long, torturous, emotional, and incredibly melodramatic journey through this stuffy office space."

Jessica wrote down a few words on her note pad then set the pen and pad aside.

"Well Mr. Wilde, it seems everything passes. Just so you know considering what happened, you've gotten through this faster than almost any other ZPD officer I've had."

Nick chuckled lightly and stretched. "Weelll, what can I say? I'm just a stone cold fox; no emotions can get past my fortified walls for long."

"Hmmm is that so?" The Gazelle replied somewhat boredly and condescendingly.

"Well Nick… if you ask me, I think the real reason you recovered so well is your friend Jack. Other than the somewhat amazing therapeutic idea he had for you, all the other stories of your daily occurrences seem to include him very.. positively."

Nick let off a warm smile as he looked back at the ceiling.

"Well again, what can I say? I'm just one lucky fox."

He turned his head back over at Jessica. "Now.. I believe I am free to go no?"

Jessica sighed and smiled at him. "Yes Mr. Wilde you are free to go, I have no reason to call you back in either."

Nick jumped up on his feet and dusted off his clothes.

"Well then in that case I need to hit the hay, I'm meeting up with a buddy at the bar."

Nick started to head for the door and waved his hand in the air. "Hope to never see you soon."

Jessica gave him an annoyed look as he left her office but with a happy smirk on her face.

"Likewise.."

Nick kicked open the door to the bar wearing some rather nice casual clothes that fit someone getting a decent pay check, but the same smug fox smile as always. He walked over to the bar and sat next to his friend.

"Hope you didn't start drinking without me Jack."

Jack looked back at him and smiled. "Of course not! This is for you not me, I know I'm the one that recommended her but I can't believe she said no drinking."

Nick shrugged a little. "Well you know, wanted to make sure I didn't get a bad habit, drinking should be fun not depressing."

Jack nodded his head. "True, which is why we're doing it now!"

Jack handed Nick a beer to his slight surprise.

"Don't worry.. it's all on me tonight." The bunny said smiling at him determinedly as Nick grabbed the beer and gave Jack a wide grin in return.

"Well then let's not wait any longer."

 _3 beers later…._

The two sat there at the bar laughing a little bit like idiots feeling fairly light headed but not quiet wasted or too drunk just yet. Jack paused his conversation for a bit and looked at Nick.

"Hey Nick.. now that you've moved on for sure, can I ask something? And I want you to be honest with me."

Nick took another sip of his beer and smiled back at his partner.

"Sure thing bud, ask me anything."

"Well… I never once asked this either before or after the incident for a very large multitude of reasons but… did you love Judy?"

Nick put his beer down and looked down at the bar table with his eyelids half closed and a bit of a distant look in his eye. Jack looked over at him making a bit of a frown at his response.

"..I'm sorry nick I-"

"No no I said anything, And believe me it's not as bad as you think so.. I'll tell you."

Nick quickly took another sip of beer before replying.

"In a very short answer… No actually, I never got to that level. I loved her as much as a partner could without leaking into that territory."

He said taking yet another sip of beer before continuing.

"Now don't get me wrong, we got close… dangerously close in fact. We aren't complete idiots, we both somewhat knew it I think, and we were both careful about it. Me more so then Judy I would say, I can't speak for you bunnies but see when Fox's fall for someone, we fall hard, it's never graceful. As a result I feel most foxes have a natural defense against that, and especially me due to my.. past. Funny enough I had said to myself that if we could survive this crazy case about that new night howler drug I'd for once in my life completely open up to her, go full on in and see if I really loved her and hope she'd reciprocate. But well.. you know."

Jack to Nick's surprise actually laughed just a little bit drunkenly and dropped his head against his shoulder with a big grin.

"Oooh you foxes, ssooooo emotional~"

Nick laughed a little bit back and pushed him off.

"Well then Mr. bunny, what about you? Judy was pretty emotional at times so I always thought bunnies were just as emotional as us foxes."

Jack giggled a little bit. "I think that's more a female thing, or perhaps Judy. If were just talking bunnies in general, I wouldn't say were overly emotional. In fact a lot of our ways of affection are pretty sexual."

Nick crossed his arms and shook his head. "Typical bunnies, always just want to fuck, no room for love."

"Hey now that's not true! Of course the stereotype about multiplying and sex is well.. 100% true, but for us sex and love are very linked mind you."

Nick raised his eyebrow. "Oh?"

Jack nodded a bit overly dramatically due to the beer, probably feeling it hit a bit faster than Nick due to his size.

"Thaatts right! Like for example, you can tell how much two bunnies love each other as far as a female and male bunny by how many kids they shared. Like Judy's family had what.. 257 kids or something, so you know they loved each other quite a bit. Then my family had like less than 100, and well.. as much as I love my parents I think they were almost like friends with benefits who didn't want to bother looking for anyone else…"

Nick took another huge swig of beer before responding.

"Heh so parents that love their kids but not each other, boy does that sound familiar…"

Nick paused for a minute slouching down weirdly at the bar table as Jack expected him to continue until he suddenly sprang back to life

"But let's not talk about that!"

he said somewhat dramatically, Jack was starting to think him not drinking for a long time made it affect him quicker.

"What about you Jack? Have you ever loved someone else?"

Jack sat back and thought about it for a little bit.

"Uhmm… I.. well, I don't think so actually. Like Judy my life was pre-occupied back at home working my ass off and studying, no time for that. And on the job there wasn't much time for it in the end. If I think about it mmaaayyybbee I was in love? I don't know if this one girl I saved counted, she was cool I guess."

Nick chuckled a bit drunkenly at his response, to him it was always fun seeing Jack's coolness get a bit taken back as he drank.

"Nah that isn't love trust me, if you aren't sure it isn't love!"

Jack looked over at Nick with somewhat sloppy looking eyes.

"So what about you big guy? Any love before Judy~"

Nick also took a moment to think about it.

"Eh I don't think so" He said shrugging.

"I mean I had sex sure, lots of flings, but you know nothing really close to romantic even if perhaps a few in the past have tried. Judy was the first and only person I was ever going to consider opening up to, maybe falling for.. but you know that isn't happening anymore."

Nick looked over at Jack with his usual drunk smile which was melted away and surprised by the look Jack had.

Jack was giving Nick a sad face almost with what seemed like a few tears before he suddenly leaned his entire head up against Nick hugging him.

"Aw that's so sad! I'm sorry Nick!"

Nick just laughed a little bit and hugged him back softly.

"Hey it's alright buddy, besides I got you now don't I?"

Jack looked up at Nick and gave him a smile. "Awwww Nick-"

"Ahem!"

The two suddenly looked over to see the bartender shaking his head with a slight smile at the two.

"If you two uh, officers, are done yet would you like me to bring you your checks or more beer? And uh please just only one more beer if you do order."

The two looked at each other and smirked, saying in unison.

"Isn't it obvious? Another!"

The bartender sighed a little bit.

"Coming right up.."

* * *

By the late end of the night the two of them fumbled up to Nick's apartment as he clumsily unlocked it and entered in, turning the lights on. Jack entered looking around in amazement.

"Woaahh so this is your place huh? I guess we've only ever usually gone to my place a few times after drinking.. even then you never stayed to long."

Nick chuckled a bit throwing off his jacket.

"Well we were pretty busy with the case back then, and afterward I needed a lot of individual mental recovery time. But you knnooww saying that now."

Nick walked over to his drunken partner shutting the door lazily behind them.

"We should like.. hang out way more. Judy and I used to hang out minimum once a week at each other's place, bad movie nights.. dumb tv series, even just talking." Jack exaggeratingly put a finger on his chin. "Oohh yeaah I think I maybe went to one or two of those sense you two asked.. those were fun, I'd love to just do it with you though!"

Nick smiled and laughed a bit more, sitting down on the bed.

"So what about you? What do you do when not working or hanging with us."

Jack sat down next to Nick on the bed.

"Weelll not that much really. I don't actually know too many people here in Zootopia anymore so I guess if I'm not very rarely with other friends, I just watch TV by myself, enjoy eating out, that sort of thing."

Nick frowned and shook his head.

"No way that won't do, a guy as great as you can't be doing stuff by himself!"

Nick put his hands on Jack "Listen from now on you're gonna be doing stuff with me, yah got it?"

Jack giggled loudly and for a long time not even responding to Nick before falling down on the bed.

"Aaaah we are so drunk.. I can't walk home I'm too tired."

Nick laid next to him with smile.

"Then just sleep with me tonight, I only got one bed but it's big and nice, no need to sleep on the floor"

Jack giggled more and scooted up a little closer to him. "Mmm I think that'd be nice.."

Nick reached his paw out and turned the lights off next to him.

"Ah hey.. you don't need to cling to me."

Jack responded with only a small hum as he started drifting to sleep, Nick sighing contently and accepting his drunk clinging, putting an arm around him casually.

"Good night to you too bunny.."

Nick closed his eyes putting down his head slightly on top of Jack.

"And thank you.."


	3. More Then Just a Partner

You know you could say that me and this little ol' rabbit are pretty much inseparable at this point. Of course I don't mean Judy, well at least anymore; she may not be with us but a small part of her spirit is I think, both with me and even a little bit of Jack. Yes that Jack, one of the most renown un-renown spies that everybody's never heard of, really his popularity is only from the fact he's the first ever bunny spy, but being part of the M16 doesn't exactly get your name out there even with that fact.

Well that's perhaps not the case anymore considering this bunny is far from unknown now days, being part of a publicly open "secret branch" that the new mayor sure seems to enjoy talking about constantly with its many successes. Well at least he's smart enough not to make Jack or me openly go out in public and accept medals, even if perhaps they'd be a nice adornment and show off piece.

Ah but I digress. As I was saying before me and this bunny basically do everything together ever since what happened at the end of our first big case. When I felt like I had almost nobody he was there supporting me, going to the bar with me and listening to my drunk ramblings, and even one night sleeping next to me after we had a few drinks to many… well, I usually try to omit that last part from my memory, once you're sober the morning after is always a bit.. awkward.

But even so almost every day we get together in our nice snazzy outfits, get some coffee or snacks from a few local food places, to which Jack always seems to know the best ones around town, and just hang out. After that one of us drives the other to the ZPD and we both head straight to our little secluded branch, only ever really getting a chance to say a few hello's to other officers on the way or chats with them in the cafeteria if we want. It got to the point that some of the other officers started calling us Jack Wilde or Nick Savage sense we were always together.

I didn't really bother retorting their teasing after a certain point though, not like I could really argue the fact we were with each other constantly. But well sense I can't do anything with Judy anymore I just do everything with Jack now, maybe even more than I did with carrots considering our free time. At times though it can be really odd how similar that bunny is to her, but I still of course know he **isn't** her. There's no such thing as a replacement for Judy, nor anyone else in the world for that matter, you make do with what you get and I got lucky enough to be given another equally fantastic bunny, don't know what I'd do without the guy.

Oh and despite the previous case being "closed", to which I still question if you can call it that, the mayor decided to keep the branch open due to the insane amount of popularity our little escapades have created. All this time I thought our branch really was only a publicity stunt but who knew I'd actually do a lot of good, crime rates around the city have actually momentarily gone down due to us , not to mention the free time we get sense there isn't always need for an undercover mission.

At the moment the majority of our work is just showing up or writing a few reports here and there, even then we get way too much down time or just general break time.

"Uh Nick?"

Most of the time if it's later in the day we usually just head to that local bar by ourselves, and considering our checks it's hard not to-

"Nick!".

* * *

Nick suddenly jolted up a little bit completely caught off guard, he turned his head over to his right to see Jack in the passenger seat looking at him, Nick sitting in the driver's side of the car stopped at a red light.

"Jeez you weren't even paying attention, what were you day dreaming about this time?"

Nick relaxed a little bit back into his seat and put back on his usual somewhat smug grin.

"Oh you know the usual, memories of past missions, thinking of saving cute vixens with my patented spy skills, crashing the car into the side walk while day dreaming."

"Yeah well let's not make that last day dream a reality huh? If we don't hurry were not going to make it to the ceremony in time, and you're the one carrying the ring." Jack quickly retorted as Nick's sly grin disappeared from his response. Nick quickly looked at the clock in their car, 5:40, still time to get to the ceremony at 6:00 but Nick was hoping to give himself more leeway.

"Don't worry bunny I got this."

Nick put on his sunglasses as he clutched the steering wheel tightly. The minute the light turned green he started to almost floor it down the road with a small grin appearing on his face, Jack seeming somewhat unfazed by his course of action.

"This may not be a chase but don't get to relaxed, if you screw up not only will we not make it but we'll be paying for a replacement vehicle."

Nick did a very quick swerve and drift to the right easily avoiding the other few cars around them while keeping his foot on the gas.

"You should know better than to doubt me bunny, especially after the last mission we were on."

Jack crossed his arms giving Nick a somewhat cocky smooth grin of his own.

"You mean the part where our target was supposed to be interested in you but ended up going over to me instead because you were too busy talking to a vixen?"

"For your information Savage the vixen was hitting on mywa and it would have been very rude of me to say no to her drink. If anything it just shows that you're clearly more fit for missions involving other males."

Jack over exaggeratingly put a paw to his chin.

"Hmmmm not so sure about that one slick, you did look awfully good in that dress last time. Maybe now that we both got a chance at seducing someone we'll get to seduce a guy together as a team?"

Nick pointed out his finger for a quick second in the air near Jack, keeping his other hand tightly on the wheel.

"See that's another complaint I have by the way, we've gotten two cases of having to seduce a guy but where are all the cases were we get to seduce women? Surely there must be a few underground female dealers with wide hips and good looks, not just gay weaselss and Deer."

Jack adjusted his tie slightly and put on a smug grin.

"Well I don't know about you but I have gotten to do that on multiple occasions actually, perhaps the chief just doesn't want to give you the satisfaction?"

The car quickly halted as they parked at their destination spot, Nick ignoring Jack's comment and looking at the clock.

"Alright just in time…"

Nick said out loud before relaxing a bit more and stretching his arms upward as Jack started to get out of the car.

"Come on now don't take too long, you'll have plenty of time to relax when waiting for groom."

The Church was almost dead silent as everyone in their seats watched the priest in front of them almost enchantingly; this type of atmosphere had been going on for quite some time and a bit of eagerness lingered in the room as the priest neared the end of his speech. The left side of the church was filled with a disparity of different Raccoon's and even few variations within its own species, while the right side of the church was filled with a smaller amount of tigers; both teams watching the ceremony with baited eyes.

Nick with his always confident smile stood to quite a few people's surprise as Fangmeyer's best man with his hands behind lying gently behind his back, seeming to have all the patience in the world. Meanwhile Jack stood somewhat adjacent to Nick on the Raccoon's side among one of his closer friends, though not as his best man. Fangmeyer himself was looking dapper in a very expensive suit that fit him well enough, A little on the tight side considering his physique but also not to loose fitting. And on the other side looking quite a bit shorter stood Axel, An equally as happy Raccoon also sporting an equally as nice suit with a wide smile across his face.

The priest finishing up his speech closed his book and looked happily at the two animals.

"You may now kiss the groom."

The two animals gazed at each other's eyes for a brief moment before they both leaned forward and engaged in a passionate kiss, causing both sides of the church to clap and even a few small cheers being heard among them.

Pop! The sound of a cork echoed throughout the dining hall as the father on the Raccoon's side of the family popped a bottle of champagne and spilled some of the drink across the floor with almost reckless abandon, both the grooms and their family's only laughed and cheered around the table in response. Jack and Nick from a small distance were back together smiling happily for the couple and occasionally glancing around the room filled with other tables and family members chatting with one another.

"I really can't believe it." Nick said shaking his head as he looked at the two.

"I really didn't think I'd be alive today to see one of the first ever inter-species marriages, you can question some of what the new Mayor of Zootopia has done for the city but you can't deny he's done some good by legalizing this."

Jack let a happy and content smile show his face as he continued looking at the two happily clinking their glasses and downing champagne together, a sudden slightly cocky yet suave smile starting to creep on his as he looked over at Nick.

"You know I'm more surprised that you of all people became Fangmeyer's best mate for the wedding. I knew you two talked more than some of the other's but you weren't ever truly that close right? I mean there's no way that you've chatted with Fangmeyer more then you've talked to Clawhauser. I only got to be up here with Axel due to our past friendship when I was younger and in Zootopia, so I'm thinking there's more a reason for you as well."

Nick only smugly smiled at Jack's always quick wit and thinking.

"Well if you must know it was because I was actually the one that convinced him to go with the marriage."

Jack looked over at Nick with a shocked expression, almost not believing him.

"No way, he went to you!?"

Nick chuckled in response shaking his head as if he almost didn't believe it himself.

"I know right, ludicrous, going to me of all people. But apparently I was the only friend in that day so early and he actually pulled me aside while walking to the bathroom. He told me he had spent most of the day before and the entire morning stressing over this idea. He hit me with an information bomb in the time span of 6 minutes, really you should have heard how fast he was talking. He talked all about falling for this raccoon fellow, loving him, being with him, the legalization of marriage, thoughts on wanting to actually do it, all this doubt and concern he had. He basically said he wanted to marry the guy but was super stressed about what other people would think, if his family would be ok with the idea, about this and that and well you know the deal."

Jack only stared at nick inquisitively as he took a drink off the table taking a small sip.

"So.. what did you tell him?"

Nick took a sip of his own drink before responding.

"Well simple, I told him it doesn't matter. Not to put down how important this legalization thing really is but at the end of the day marriage isn't going to change your love for someone right? If anything I always saw it not really as a next step, but a bit of an excuse to celebrate. Some people feel better about it if they have papers backing up their relationship but at the end of the day a marriage should be something fun and exciting I think. He was worrying so much about the public's view, about peoples thought's on the matter, and all this other stuff he had practically forgotten why he wanted to do it, to show Axel that he loved him. So I told him if he truly wanted to do it simply for himself and his partner, and not for any other excuse or reason, that he should stop worrying and just do it. And now well here we are."

Nick put back on his smug smile as he looked over at the married couple already on their second glass of champagne. Jack gave a warm smile to the couple at the same time as Nick, turning his head back over to the fox.

"You know you really did to a fantastic thing for them, I think Fangmeyer's not only lucky to have you as a friend, but I think I'm quiet lucky to have someone as caring as you as my partner."

Nick almost as an automatic response looked away from Jack rubbing his neck and feeling a bit of embarrassment, Jack like Nick tended to usually be a bit sarcastic with most of the stuff he said, and unlike him also tended to be very to the point when talking about something, not much on always fluffing up words; but either way it goes Jack always had a friendly air to his tone of voice if it wasn't something to serious. And it wasn't often, but occasionally he would say something genuinely nice or encouraging to the fox like he is now, and it always got him just a little bit unexpectedly.

"Hey come on don't be saying stuff like that at a wedding, my old fox heart can only take so many emotions at once."

Nick said in a joking manner back. And just as Jack was going to respond, Fangmeyer and Axel surprised them by coming up to them from behind as the tiger casually put an arm around Nick with a smile.

"Wachu fellows talking about over here? Hope I didn't interrupt something romantic~"

The tiger teased to the two but specifically Nick, it certainly wasn't a secret in the ZPD building that the two practically did almost everything together. Nick only looked back at the tiger with a smile.

"No but you did interrupt us trying to give you cheers for a healthy and long lasting relationship, so I guess that won't be happening anytime soon."

Fangmeyer only laughed as he took another huge sip from his champagne glass as a little posy of other officers from the ZPD behind him showed up with drinks.

"Well come on you two, Axel here will be joining us for a little rare occasion of police debauchery at the fancy little bar you both can afford to go to way too often, not that anyone here will have to worry about buying anything."

Fangmeyer looked back at the crew as they all did a little cheer for him. Jack looked over at the two and back around to some of the other guests.

"But what about both of your families?"

The Racoon was the one to respond this time.

"Eh you know my folks, they aren't exactly big into partying anyways, besides it's **our** wedding and I think drinking with some police officers sounds fun to me~" The Raccoon said leaning slightly into Fangmeyer as the tiger wrapped one of his arms around him.

"And my own folks didn't seem to mind when I told them what we wanted to do, we'll have a bit more champagne here then head on off to the bar!"

Fangmeyer said with a roar as the officers cheered again and a few family members around them laughed.

Nick had his usual cocky and smug grin as the two partners both looked at each other for a brief moment.

"Well as they say bunny, live and let live right?"

Jack caving in let out a small sigh with a smug grin of his own afterward.

"Alright but let's try not to get too pissed drunk this time, ok?"

Nick only rolled his eyes in response giving him a light smile.

"Whatever you say bunny."

* * *

The door creaked open to Jack's apartment as the mildly drunken bunny and fox giggled near the entrance way walking up into the room, Nick turning the lights on already knowing where the switch it.

"Wow.. I can't believe how much that Raccoon can party, he even gives Clawhauser a run for his money after a few mixed drinks."

Jack laughed a bit more thinking about it as he slumped down on his big couch.

"What I can't believe is that we actually ended up not getting completely wasted tonight. Everyone but us was already downing champagne at the party so while we were just getting buzzed everyone at that bar was already getting crazy, I hope those others guys didn't pass out on the way home after that many long islands."

Nick lazily sat next to the bunny with a somewhat drunken smile on his face.

"Well I think that's a first for us, going to a party, with the officers no less, and being the least two drunk of the group. Although maybe I should say that's even more an accomplishment for you."

Nick said poking a finger on the bunny's chest.

"Oh come on I may be well.. a little bit worse then you, but I wouldn't say you're always so great yourself slick."

Jack retorted as Nick looked smugly away from the rabbit and titled his head towards the ceiling while resting his elbows around the back of the couch.

"Don't know what you're talking about bunny, wither its being incredibly handsome or drinking I'm always great."

Jack laughed at his comeback as even Nick chuckled to himself for a bit before silence broke the room. And unexpectedly Nick started to speak with a bit of a serious tone to the rabbit.

"Hey Jack, I just wanted to say uhm.. thanks."

Jack giggled a bit at his response not taking him too seriously at first.

"For what, convincing Axel to take that second shot straight away?"

Nick shook his head.

"No just.. for everything really. I've been thinking about how great today has been and so many days before it and it feels almost unreal after what happened so many months ago. As we were both drunkenly walking through the streets I remember feeling an inkling of familiarity to the situation. Partying with the officers then walking home with a drunken stumble, I started to remember even before you how many times I did that with Judy. Her smile and giggle when she got drunk were both one of the funniest and most genuinely cutest things I had ever seen."

Nick paused for a brief moment with a light smile on his face and hands cupped together leaning forward a bit, contemplating his thoughts as Jack looked over at him with a more serious look as well.

"But Just as quickly as I felt that nostalgia I felt a sharp pain in my chest, immediately I would remember that she was gone. I'd never see or hear from her again, and even the memories I do have of her feel almost like distant dreams at times rather than reality. But in that moment of pain I felt as we kept walking, just as a feeling of sadness started to ripple through me I suddenly felt a small little tug from you. You had kept your arm around me and occasionally tugged at it to prevent yourself from being too clumsy, and at that moment I looked down at you and remembered that even though Judy was gone, you were still with me. And In that exact instant the pain and sorrow that was creeping through me immediately disappeared, almost like it was barley real in the first place. I than remembered that Judy being gone wasn't the end all be all of my life, and that the reason I was able to move on from what happened to her and be where I am today, still getting drunk and still able to keep a smile on my face, is thanks to you."

Nick looked down at Jack with a small but loving smirk on his face as Jack returned the favor. The rabbit quickly scooted closer to Nick and gave one of his arms a tight hug while putting his head onto it.

"Come on you dumb sentimental fox, you should know you don't have to thank me for that."

Nick laughed with a happy tone in his voice as he put a hand softly on Jack's back.

"I know bunny, you can partially blame it on the alcohol if it makes this feel any less heavy."

Jack's ears suddenly perked up at the fox's words as he looked up at him, this time with a more mischievous grin on his face.

"You know speaking of alcohol.. considering everyone at the party got off tomorrow and we got home earlier than we anticipated, we could still get pissed.. if you know what I mean."

Nick raised an eyebrow to Jack with a sly smile of his own. "Oh? Wada got in mind rabbit?"

Jack let go of Nick and momentarily scooted to the other edge of the couch and opened up a nearby cabinet, taking out of it a bottle of red wine and slyly grinning back at the fox.

"We still got a few more bad romance cop flicks to watch you know."

Nick only let out a few small giggles in response.

"Now you're speaking my language."

* * *

"Nicholas… I love you, forever, don't ever leave me again."

A very masculine lion bruised up with scratches and dust all over his body was holding a lioness with one arm as he leaned down closer to her.

"A long time ago, do you remember when you asked me if I was gonna take it or leave it. Well I've already made up my mind… I'm taking it, all of it…"

The Lion entered into a dramatic kiss with the lioness as cheesy trumpets started playing in the background and the screen faded to black with the credits rolling.

Jack and Nick having downed almost all the wine were officially wasted by this point in the movie, with perhaps Jack being the worst of the two, both laughing as well as groaning a little at that ending.

"Maannn what an awful call back with that line.." Jack said shaking his head as Nick responded.

"And that ending didn't even fix anything, what happened to the guy that escaped; didn't he destroy the entire police station?"

Jack then let out a drunken sigh and leaned into Nick closing his eyes.

"Aaaahh who cares.."

The bunny almost slurred out as Nick looked down at him, he knew after a certain point Jack couldn't handle any more booze and would pass out if he wasn't careful.

"Getting tired there bunny? Want me to help you to your room."

Though even as he said that the fox himself wasn't sure if he'd be fully capable of doing so given his state as well.

"Mmmm only if you sleep with me this time."

Jack practically blurted out as Nick chuckled a little at the bunny's words.

"Hey now let's not go down that road again, it's fun and cute when were drunk like this but it's always a little awkward the next morning, for both of us."

Jack Buried his face into Nick's groaning a bit more.

"I don't care about that, I want to do it anyways."

Jack sometimes becomes a little demanding if he gets really wasted. Nick only sighed and helped the sleepy bunny on his feet even though he was only doing marginally better then him right now.

"Come on bunny lets hit the hay."

As the two wondered off to the bed and Jack somewhat collapsed on it Nick helped get some blankets on him.

"Now try to get some good sleep bunny, we got a whole day ahead of us."

Nick said as he looked briefly at the tired bunny and began to turn around, awkwardly trying not to fall himself only to have his shirt strained from Jack's grip. Nick looked back at Jack to see the bunny holding a very drunken but somewhat mischievous smile as he held on tightly to his shirt.

"Fine but only if you give me goodnight kiss."

Jack said somewhat teasingly as Nick gave him a bit more of a serious look.

"Jack come on let go of my shirt."

Jack shook his head feverishly.

"Come on foxy, either you sleep in my bed with me or give me a little kiss." Jack giggled drunkenly to himself at his own words.

Nick started to feel a little nervous, Jack's grip wasn't letting loose and the fox was too drunk as well as frankly too tired to be thinking of a witty response or clever way out of this. He looked down briefly at the almost equally drunk bunny on the bed who was in turn looking up at Nick with a somewhat innocent yet cute smile on his face, the kind of smile that was starting to remind Nick of a certain someone…

Nick paused for a brief moment not saying anything to the smiling bunny as he suddenly let all of his inhibitions go and gave Jack a small kiss. It was a little sloppy and maybe lasted a second longer than it should have but it was brief; Nick quickly pulled back to see the face of a completely flabbergasted bunny below him holding showing off a blush on his cheeks. Nick also couldn't help but have a small blush on his face but still kept his expression somewhat serious. Noticing Jack had already let go of him Nick quickly looked away from the bunny and tucked him in further.

"Now be a good bunny and go to sleep… I'll see you tomorrow."

After his statement the fox rather swiftly left the room and closed the door behind him without even a glance back at him, staying in position on the other side of the door and letting out a sigh.

"Did I really just do that…" Nick said to himself as Jack back in the bed was having similar thoughts as he covered his mouth.

Nick quickly plopped himself down on the guest bed and looked up at the ceiling a bit groggily.

"No point thinking much about it now Nick.. just head to bed and face the awkwardness tomorrow morning.."

He groaned at the thought of tomorrow even happening but never the less closed his eyes and due to his drunken state was luckily able to fall asleep very easily, just as Jack did the same.

* * *

The sun started to shine throw the window near Nick as the rays touched against his eyelids. Very soon after the fox started opening them realizing it must be somewhere in early afternoon. However when his eyes opened his face immediately contorted to a somewhat groggy and upset expression with his eyelids half shut.

"…Shit"

Was all the fox said to himself as he got up and stretched off of the bed. He was surprised he didn't get any hangover that day but was glad considering the other head ache he was having from the events yesterday; unfortunately he didn't forget any of them.

His ears also twitched lightly as he heard the sounds of running water in the background and a few pans, Jack was already up and awake before him. A part of Nick just wanted to go back lying face down in the bed forever but he wasn't the type to dodge stuff like this, he got up and went out to face the music.

"Oh good morning"

Was all he heard from the kitchen as Jack seemed to be busy cooking something, presumably for the two of them. Nick slowly walked over in the direction of the kitchen peaking to see what he was making.

"And uhm.. morning to you too…."

He paused for a small moment not wanting to continue before looking away from the kitchen area.

"Sooooo about last night."

He said trying to play it off a little and exaggeratedly looking in the air.

"Oh yeah last nice was pretty crazy huh, I actually remember the whole party but I barley remember what happened when we got home."

Jack said to Nick's surprise as he flipped an egg over.

"Well maybe not completely, really all I forgot was the latter half of that dumb movie we watched and getting to bed, I hope I wasn't too much a hassle getting to my room."

Jack let out a light laugh as Nick soaked in what Jack was saying. Jack looked back a little surprised to not immediately hear something from Nick after that statement.

"Something wrong? I didn't actually do anything to dumb last night right?"

Nick sat down casually at the dining table waiting for the food and keeping his face away from the kitchen, wearing a somewhat neutral expression on his face and in his tone as he rested his head against his paw.

"No.. nothing unusual, just a little clumsy on the way to bed like usual."

Jack let out a sigh of relief.

"Ah thank goodness, I know I'm pretty fun drunk but when I go too far I also know I can be a bit of a hassle. Now then, how would you like your eggs cooked?"

* * *

The drive for the two was filled with a very strange silence that afternoon. Their day off this time around was already off to a bit of a bumpy start. Nick was a little more quiet then usual during their breakfast and simply brushed it off as drinking too much last night. Jack accepted the answer at first but when they drove to get tea at the café and started people watching and making up stories for others like always, Nick seemed to be a little out of it. They would be laughing it up like usual for a few hours but every once and awhile something would catch him off guard and he'd start looking a little distant or just act strange.

"After her third husband left her she then had to once again change which finger she wanted to put her ring on, and the only finger left for a fourth marriage would be the pinky or in this case.. that fat thumb right there."

Nick said smugly pointing at the ring on the female leopard's finger as she was laughing it up very loudly with a goat. Jack giggled a little bit at Nick's theory then thought about it for a second.

"That is an interesting theory, I'm in fact inclined to believe it but I have something to add to it."

Nick only kept his smug grin before pointing his finger at his partner. "Shoot buddy."

Jack looked back at the couple for a brief moment as Nick joined him in the view, seeing the two stare into each other's eyes.

"I think the flings she had before were mostly when she was young and taking things too far. Probably married a guy after less than a year of getting to know them, maybe broke up with them almost just as soon when it didn't work. So after a while maybe she learned to hold back a bit, not go so crazy on all this marriage stuff or rushing a relationship. Now obviously we know this has to be a new marriage, pred prey and all, but the way they talk to each other and look at one another.. It's really subtle, but I get this small inkling that they've actually been together a very long time, and only recently got this opportunity.. Perhaps taking this marriage a bit more seriously."

Nick looked more carefully at the couple and could see his point, the doughy eye's they had for each other wasn't a simple attraction, something about it felt much… deeper, and they seemed incredibly used to one another. Nick giggled a little bit thinking about it and looking back at the Jack.

"Perhaps your right bunny, maybe this is the first actual genuine relationship that's ever been in this café."

Jack smiled and looked back over at Nick with a somewhat teasing but cutesy tone.

"Well we we're here first right? So what does that make us?"

Nick looked down at the bunny staring right back at him as Jack wore a much more genuinely happier smile than his usual suave one, this kind of joke didn't happen often but Nick knew it was only really half serious. Normally he could always play off of it fairly cleverly, in the past he didn't even think much of it, he may be felt a few inklings of happiness from his statements knowing there was always a little truth to them, but not much else from his memory. But now when he said things like this and gave him that look, he felt his stomach tighten up ever so slightly, and feeling unable to face these emotions he instead ended up blushing lightly and turning his gaze away from him.

"erhm yeah, I suppose so.."

A bit of a silence broke between them as Jack's expression turned into a little bit of a frown as he turned his own head away from the fox and sipped on his tea. Throughout most of the day Nick continued to act like this on and off to the very confused and somewhat concerned Jack. It wasn't always the same thing but it was too consistent to be a fling, it happened again during a conversation to the movie theaters they went to later in the day and even right after it was over.

It was around 5:00pm and Jack was doing the driving sense yesterday it was Nick's turn to do it for the day, sense the two did so much together they specifically shared a vehicle for going out due to how awful the parking in the city was.

"Uhh.. Nick."

Jack looked over at the fox who was blankly staring at the window. The rabbit puffed his cheeks out in annoyance at his lack of awareness.

"NICK!"

Jack suddenly shouted out as the fox almost freaked out and sprang to life looking around. "What who where!?.."

Eventually his gaze met Jack's as he looked at the fox confusingly.

"You uh.. doing all right there pal."

Nick sank back into his seat as he realized what he had been doing.

"Yeah I'm fine, just been doing a lot of thinking is all." Nick said dryly to his partner who wasn't too convinced.

"You sure nothing weird happened last night?"

Jack said questioning Nick once again.

"Yes Jack… its fine." Nick said almost somewhat upset at having to get that memory re jogged into his system.

Jack stared at him for a moment and let out a sigh.

"Well.. whatever you say mr. grumpy, if you don't want to talk about it we can maybe chat tomorrow during work."

Jack seemed to stop trying to engage in conversation on the ride home as Nick continued to prolong the silence, going back into his thinking state.

 _Shit.. I'm making it so obvious something is on my mind; I thought I was smoother than this. I kept telling myself to just act natural, that nothing happened and it's just another day out with my friend, chilling out and having a good time. Heck it's not even as if every time I stare at him I think of that night or anything either, yet…_

Nick looked over at Jack through the corner of his eye's briefly, The bunny had a very neutral expression on as he was staring in front of him driving the car.

 _Yet at want point did it become so hard to look at him. I know it's partially to blame for that dumb kiss, the timing is obvious but…_

Nick thought back to the moment he was staring at the bunny at the café with that innocent smile of his, while other moments in the past few months of that occasionally happening flowed through his brain.

 _But that feeling I had at the cafe.. It didn't just appear overnight, on rare moments when I'm with him, I've had that same sort of feeling before, but much more.. sutble. And the more I think about that feeling, about what it is.._

Images of Nick's previous partner Judy then started to pop into his head.

 _It reminds me of being with Judy, that feeling of such a strong happiness in being with a person that calling it simply liking them isn't sufficient to describe it. But when the hell did it start? When did I start having this feeling in the back of my mind, or my sub-consciousness?_

Nick almost strained himself as he tried his best to recollect the earliest memory of this phenomenon.

 _I... I don't know.. just like with Judy it snuck up on me. But with her the feeling wasn't exactly the same as what's happening, now, it's a little different._

Images specifically of last night's events started to invade his thoughts again, the short and awkward drunken kiss they had and the blushed shocked face of the bunny after doing it.

 _Even with Judy I had never once kissed her, we've hugged plenty, cuddles sometimes, and it once even got a little close to a kiss before but, it never really happened. Is that it? Am I having trouble controlling my feelings now after that kiss, like what I've been hiding so deeply has started to come to the fore front of my mind because of it. Am I really.. falling for him?_

Suddenly Nick felt the car stop and the engine shut off as he suddenly sat up in his seat and looked confusingly at his surroundings and then to Jack, who was already staring right at him.

"Well were here."

Nick blinked and didn't respond right away, he quickly looked out the window of the car to see his apartments.

"But.. I live almost 30 minutes away from the theatre."

Jack turned his eyes away from Nick for a moment.

"You were just sitting there in silence for basically most of those 30 minutes. I started to figure after a while that perhaps you just wanted to head home early instead of hanging out."

Nick's ears dropped down as he immediately felt bad for the way he's been acting.

"I'm sorry Jack… I didn't mean to be like this I just.."

Nick paused not wanting to say it as Jack sighed again giving him a soft but sad smile.

"It's alright Nick, I understand. You just need a little time to yourself to I guess.. think. I don't know what's going on but, we can talk about it later."

Nick could tell Jack was trying to be supportive of Nick as always despite the fact he clearly was feeling down himself from the whole situation and today.

"..Jack, I-"

Suddenly a faint beeping sound interrupted their conversation. The looks on both of their faces turned deadly serious as they both took out a very small receiver in their pockets, a little red dot was popping in and out at specific intervals on the device with a small sound emitting from it. The both looked at each other for a brief moment before Jack instantly started up the car again and started flooring it to the ZPD.


	4. Suicide Mission

Jack and Nick barley even spoke during their ride over to the ZPD, and although the high speeding car was filled with silence there was no sense of awkwardness, only urgency. The duo quickly parked their vehicle, jogged into the building and straight to chief Bogo's office; the chief already waiting at the table with a few documents on the table along with his reading glasses next to them. Normal circumstances of being called in for the two is literally getting a call from the chief; the pager was only used in time sensitive emergencies and missions. Jack had gotten this on only two occasions in the past and both times they were some of the most dangerous missions he's taken due usually to lack of information as well as time, this was Nick's first time dealing with the pager.

"Thank you two for showing up in such a timely manner, and that is, I'm afraid, all the pleasantries I can offer you. The mission you will be up taking will be commenced in exactly 28 hours from now."

The two gave Bogo a rather shocked expression even having already expected a very short brief time.

"Barley a day!? Chief Bogo there's no way that's enough time to-"

"Your entire schedule for the next 28 hours has already been planned to make sure you get the most amount of information and prep possible, including the exact hour and time you will be sleeping and waking up today for maximum efficiency. Before I set the pager off I was already prepping the schedule and information with an informant who will be helping with the de-briefing and case."

The two hadn't even noticed that in the corner of the room was another figure silently sitting down and waiting to be introduced, the two only looking at him as they heard the sound of the animal getting out of his chair. It was a rather rough looking otter that if it wasn't for the suit he was wearing you might guess he got picked off of the street.

"Nice to meet you two, my names Oliver, I'll be telling you about the mission and the information I have personally gathered regarding it. I'm sure you're not happy being called last minute and being told you have almost no time to prepare but out of all the options we had, you two were by far the most fit for this mission."

Jack and Nick glanced briefly at each other feeling a little bedazzled by the situation, waiting to see what the otter what was getting at.

"You see for the past few months I've been working almost entirely off the radar and under cover as a handler for the drugs of a huge and relatively new underground distributor. I'm sure you are both aware of a very similar scenario that was happening not too long ago after supposedly taking care of it.. or at least taking care of it as much as we had known at the time. I know that you Nick of all people were wondering the most about what really happened that day."

"I'd prefer you get to the point.. sir."

Nick said plainly interrupting Oliver, but the otter didn't at all seem upset by this and silently obeyed his wishes.

"Essentially we know for a fact who's in charge, or the people I should say, in charge of the destruction of the previous new upcoming dealer that was attempting to sell the new drug based off the night howlers. These groups of men already have strong connections to the drug world and had been watching the situation and battle between you're small but capable unit and the previous dealer trying to spread the drug. We don't know if they knew of your mission the day you infiltrated his building, and it's very unlikely they did, but essentially they had been planning on destroying their base and taking the drug for a long time before that.."

The two paused for a minute thinking about what he said before Jack asked a question.

"So why is it that we haven't heard any news about this for such a long time, that was many months ago at this point."

"The simple answer to that is that this group is smart, very smart in fact. While observing the little war between you two the group had learned a valuable lesson essentially, that spreading the drug organically by word of mouth, dealers, and trying to get underground partners onboard was to weak a system. This method was even less effective for that Cheetah due to the fact that he had been gone from Zootopia for a long time and nobody really knew his name anymore, he had to establish new connections that your team consistently severed very cleanly, however.."

Oliver paused for a brief moment to recollect his thoughts.

"As a result of this conflict, this group had learned this lesson without the repercussions of being dismantled or jailed like the Cheetah. In fact the whole reason the group cropped up was in resistance to this cheetah almost appearing from thin air trying to take the underworld for himself in such a short time span. But more to the point, as a result of this alliance of dealers learning a lesson from your previous case, they've managed to remain incredibly discreet. They have made absolutely no attempts to sell the drug or even mention it's existence other than with a very select group of people. They were so smart about this in fact that truly their only weakness was in knowing that they still needed chemists and groups of people to actually make the drug, package it, and guard it during this silent period. And that is where I came in, I was one of the few hired guards for the underground facility."

Oliver looked over at the two to see their reaction thus far, as expected they were both taking the case very seriously.. but the otter momentarily stared at Nick for a brief moment. After Oliver had talked with Bogo before bringing the fox here they were both slightly concerned about him taking on a mission of this caliber again so soon after the incident, especially given the case was directly linked to Judy's death.

Oliver was a very good agent at reading people and getting in with them for information, so far he hadn't detected anything from the Fox to suggest he was feeling too angry or getting overly emotional thus far. Oliver briefly looked over at Bogo who blankly stared back just for a few seconds and gave him a quick nod. Neither Jack nor Nick was sure what this was about but Oliver didn't seem interested in telling them directly.

"You know in a lot of ways like Nick here, you might consider me a bit of a.. con artist."

Oliver said trying to somewhat lighten up the mood to the two's surprise.

"However I'm a highly trained con artist, one who's put their whole back and work into it as a legitimate career designed for infiltrating and information gathering, I'm the type of guy that gives you the information you then use to further infiltrate and execute an arrest or in very extreme cases kill the target. I was actually stuck in the facility for a few months as a guard trying my hardest to get it friendly with staff there and get as much intelligence as I could, I had almost no communication to the outside world due to the severity in security for all personnel in this facility. In fact even in terms of my charm I got lucky in the few people I was able to get it on the most with had a good amount of knowledge about the factory and what was going on."

Nick and Jack started to look a little confusingly at the Otter who picked up on their facial cues.

"The reason I'm telling you all of this is that I want you to understand how tight their security is and how smart these people running the strings are. Nick, this will by far be one of the hardest missions you have ever gone on, and even in terms of Jack here it might end up being up on his list as well."

Oliver went up to Bogo's desk and started handing out papers to the two who instantly started looking at it while still listening to the Otter.

"The reason I haven't bothered mentioning the names of this group is because you're mission actually has nothing to do with apprehending them, that job will be given to the ZPD as well as the SWAT after you're mission success. Essentially the reason for this timely mission is because only within the past day have I been able to get out of the facility, and now that I am here I have no chance of ever getting back in there. Tomorrow at night there will be an incredibly huge meeting with almost every single one of the big underground names in drug dealing and distributing meeting this group; although some people in the group are already some of the big names, I'm talking about almost **everyone**. Not even the subordinates of these people seem to know anything about a meeting and it's being kept very secretive like everything else they've done. If this meeting is successful then there will essentially be absolutely no chance of keeping this drug off the street, it will be wide spread almost everywhere in an instant with no chance of circumventing it."

Oliver paused looking at the two briefly, their expressions hardened at bit as they looked over at Oliver rather than the paper as he continued on.

"Your mission will be to infiltrate the underground facility that is directly below the estate in which the party is happening, during the party itself. Unlike what you might think their security will most likely be at its most lax as the reason being their security is already limited due to their abundancy in keeping the information leakage minimal to none, and thus the distribution of security will be for themselves and the party.. not the facility. So in this brief window of the party taking place you to will enter an underground sewer system as detailed in the information I gave you, take as many photos and physical evidence as you possibly can, and exit the facility preferably the way you came. The minute you guys give us the signal or we see you leave the building the entire estate will be surrounded and we will try to make an arrest on everyone there. Do you two get the picture on how big this really is now."

The duo didn't respond and only feverishly scanned the information in the papers absorbing as much as they possibly can. Oliver ended up actually cracking a little smile at how well the two were handling the briefing and mission.

 _No signs of cracks in pressure or nervousness, it seems these two are the type that actually do better under pressure, something not even all M16 agents have for as skilled as they are._

Bogo cleared his throat and coughed into his paws.

"Well then, if you two have no question for Oliver here then I think we should get you started on your preparation for the mission as soon as possible."

* * *

The snow fell particularly heavy that day in Tundra town. It was a seemingly quiet night in the city with only a small bit of commotion and noise being produced from the district, with some of that noise being directed at the estate somewhat distant from most of the city, near the outskirts.

The place was quite a sight to behold considering it's relatively remote location, three stories high with mixtures of marble concrete decorating most of the mansion alongside other colorful adornments. Although not obvious at first glance the place was to anyone with a discerning eye almost littered with guards and security keeping a very watchful eyes on the place.

The sound of a limo zine slightly hummed out through the air as it parked near the gated entrance. The driver got out of his seat and opened the back door to a stern yet well kept looking wolf in a suit. Adjusting his tie he walked over to the two polar bears near the entrance, flashed a strange looking card to the two, and then continued walking inside past the gate and to the entrance of the somewhat lively mansion.

Off in a farther distance from a vantage point through some bushes were Oliver and Bogo as well as even a few ZPD officers near them. And In other various seemingly remote areas surrounding the building were other ZPD officers as well as SWAT waiting for the right moment to strike, seeming almost invisible despite the location. Oliver was holding a pair of binoculars watching the wolf walk through into the building.

"Wade Oxford.. that's the last one if the list is to be believed."

Bogo huffed from his nostrils. "I would have thought Mr. Big would be a part of this, I've never been so sure on the reports about his group not being into the drug trade."

Oliver responded neutrally to the chief. "Most likely Mr. Big allowed for this little arrangement to take place considering it's on his turf, but he probably doesn't know the details of what's going on, if you aren't sure of the previous reports then I think this is enough to suggest he is most likely not involved in that type of business."

Oliver looked down at his watch.

"Jack and Nick should be entering about right now, from this point forward we'll just have to wait and see if they succeed."

* * *

 **Boom!** I mini-explosion could be heard around Nick and Jack as they tried looking past the smoke on the wall in front of them. As expected the sewer really did have just two walls separating them from entering the underground facility and right into the storage area. Nick and Jack were in their usual dark infiltration outfit and geared up for a multitude of potential dangers that might happen during the mission.

"Do you hear anything Jack?"

Nick said looking at his partner as he was standing very still near the storage, his ears up and his eye's closed.

"…No nothing, as far as I can tell no guard heard the explosion, as expected their nowhere near this room; not that there are that many in the first place according to the report."

Jack quietly started walking into the room as Nick followed counting a few things on his finger to make sure he had the area and guards memorized. With each having a flash light in hand they kept to the right wall and looked around the storage area, mainly filled with boxes and equipment and specifically avoiding the camera they knew was overlooking part of the storage in the right corner of the room.

The two were now hugging against one of the walls almost right underneath the camera; Nick staying in place as he watched the bunny very skillfully jump up and around a few crates and over to some very tall storage shelves. Climbing up the shelves Jack made his way to the top toward the celling, eventually ending up right next to the camera overlooking the place. He carefully began to unscrew a small lid on the camera and take something out of his pocket as Nick started a conversation.

"So are you sure this isn't the storage where the actual drugs are placed, it looks almost identical to the pictures, plus if we leave early maybe we'll even get to test some of it out ourselves."

Jack rolled his eyes a little as he finished sticking a small device into one of the wires. Once he was sure of his work he quickly jumped back down and didn't bother hiding from the camera at all, Nick also relaxing from against the wall.

"Both storage rooms have the same dimensions and probably the same crates, it might even be somewhat designed to look identical to confuse infiltrators you know. But if Oliver's information is to be believed they only store the actual drugs in a particular spot in the other side of the building. Now no more lollygagging."

Nick not saying much in defense started following Jack silently again, but in the back of his mind he was still trying to think of more quips to defuse the situation just a little bit. Usually he was quiet good at it but he found himself running dry on the humor for this particular mission.

"Don't worry about the joking Nick, it's stressful for me to but this isn't a typical mission, we can talk a little more once we change the camera system and take out the two guards."

Nick almost scoffed at his answer as the two very slyly exited the storage into a big corridor keeping themselves out of view.

"You know I don't appreciate you using sophisticated M16 equipment to read my mind and try to calm me down, it's rather cold of you. Whatever happened to just animals talking in person, we've become so reliant on technology to do everything for us that nobody even bothers making conversation, they'd rather just text and read people's minds, it's a shame really."

Nick heard the sound of a click as the door in front them started to slowly open as Jack somewhat smugly looked back at the fox.

"…You done?"

Nick casually walked into the room. "Yeah yeah fine I get it only talk after the camera system is disabled, let's get this over with shall we?"

Jack followed him as Nick walked through the room filled with a lot of equipment and technology not necessarily related to security. But the two eventually popped in front of a somewhat big white box with multiple switches and buttons of various kinds attached to it, Nick crossed his arms and looking almost disappointingly at the device.

"Seriously, this really exists? They just left access to the entire camera system on this remote box because they were too lazy to bother installing or replacing the old one?"

Nick took a somewhat large device out of one of his packs and started tinkering with the box.

"Just be glad it makes this part of the mission a breeze, we still have the latter half of it after all."

Just then a small little button on the device Nick was holding blinked green as it was attached to the box and injected in a few different wires.

"Don't remind me.."

He stood away from the box as the two examined it for a quick second. Jack put his hands on his hips almost proudly.

"Well then looks like everything is set.. let's begin walking shall we?"

From the view of the security camera's there was but a very brief flicker of all the rooms even though the picture itself stayed consistent, the actual guard in charge of looking at the camera didn't even notice it as he was busy looking through his phone. And with the camera systems all but disabled the two very smoothly and easily started going across the entire facility.

There were few to almost no guards even in the building and of the few actually guarding they were being rather lackadaisical about it. The guards in their way were easily taken out and hidden without much issue as the two proceeded further and further into the building. Along the way other than a few easily breakable security doors and some laser systems that needed to be disabled without an alarm setting off the mission went on with relative ease.

As the duo continued searching the area they were able to acquire two pieces of crucial evidence they were seeking, multiple pictures of the facility along with chemical sets and machines helping produce the drug, and a few documents from computers containing information about the chemical equation and ingredients. However this had been considered the easy part of the mission, as the two neared their final portions they found their movement being slowed down almost not wanting to face it, until finally they arrive at their final obstacle.

In front of them was what seemed like an average door, the room to the other storage area with the drug samples that they were required to take. But what made this mission so difficult other than the very low prep time was this door right here. Due to how last minute the entire mission plan and even information was there was no information on this security door other than the fact it by far had the highest security. It wasn't even locked but the second the door would open multiple alarms would be triggered and an underground auto shut down would commence, with no way of preventing it from happening.

"What do you mean there is no way of disarming it!"

Jack almost barked angrily at Oliver who wasn't doing a very good job of hiding his nervousness, expecting this reaction.

"As I just said.. I didn't have enough time to gather a way to get past this door safety, the fact I even have this information at all was already by complete chance thanks to befriending security. This door has multiple layers of security behind it's functionality to the point that even blasting the walls to the storage area would still trigger the alarm. Essentially the plan is once the alarm is triggered, run to the spot of the drugs, store a sample into your bag and escape as security floods the area.."

Even Oliver felt a bit speechless after he mentioned that detail to two, it was a completely insane request along with being almost close to a suicide mission to accept. Before Nick or Jack could retort, sense Oliver already knew what they would say, he looked down at the ground and closed his eyes welling his words with a sense of urgency.

"Believe me if there was any other way we would have already told you! Do you think under normal circumstances this kind of mission would even be approved by the board? They know how big and important this is, and yet despite how ludicrous my solution was they accepted it, and now I'm asking you too."

Oliver humbly bowed down to the two almost not knowing what else to do in this situation, no amount of smooth talking would make this sound good.

The two paused looking down at the Otter before Nick spoke up.

"So is this why you decided to mention it now.. so you wouldn't have to say it to Bogo?" Oliver said nothing in response and continued keeping his position. Jack let out a sigh and tried relaxing the tension a little bit, laying against the wall closing his eyes.

"So what do you think Nick? Personally I already made up my mind, but I'll leave the decision up to you."

Nick looked up at the ceiling for a moment scratching his chin.

"Same for you then huh? Well.. I suppose it can't be helped then right?"

Oliver looked up at the two out of his bowing position in surprise to see the two staring at him wearing the same smug smile together. Oliver let out an almost exasperated gasp as a smile of his own crept on his face.

"Thank you.. you two really are the only ones who can do this, or who will for that matter. I-"

Nick put a finger up against the Otters lips.

"Say no more, you can thank us by buying dinner after the mission."

The two starred at the door for a moment longer bracing themselves for the challenge up ahead. They knew where they had to run back to but the possibility of getting to that place in time without getting shot was slim. They double checked on their multiple loaded pistols and gave each other a long stern look. The two almost without hesitation grabbed each other's paws and gave them a tight squeeze as they continued to stare at each other, a small smirk appearing on Nick's face.

"Remember bunny.. after this were going to squeeze that damn otter of all the money he has at a restaurant, and drink together just like we always do."

Jack's face curved into a smile of his own while keeping a very intense expression alongside it.

"It's a date!"

And in that exact second the two simultaneously kicked the door to the storage area open, instantly triggering the sound of the alarm throughout the facility as the two ran in break neck speeds through the entrance and towards the storage area where the drug was being kept; a bag and gloves already set for taking the evidence.

The sound of clinking wine glasses could be heard throughout the living room of the lavish mansion on the first floor. About 40 or so people seemed to be at this party including some of the close members to the various drug lords and dealers there, nobody at the party was expecting anything but a positive outcome.

And just then as a deer sporting a stylish black suit was laughing with some white wine to a guest he heard a little beep in his pocket. He looked down at his pants and quickly picked up the phone flipping it open.

"Hello."

"It's terrible Mr. Buckington, all of the alarms for the underground facility are going off! Someone's broken in but none of the cameras are showing anything a-and."

The deer without a single flinch covered the phone at looked at his confused female panther guest he was talking too.

"Sorry I have to take this call, I'll be right back."

He casually strolled away from the guests and into a little area off the side where he couldn't be heard.

"Calm down you fucking idiot. Send all personnel not immediately within the area of the guests down into the facility and take care of it. Make sure nobody at the party knows what happening, for all intents and purposes the problem has been dealt with and there as good as dead, got it?"

"y-yes sir!"

the animal replied at the end of the phone as the deer flipped it off, turned around with a smile on his face and approached the same guest as before.

"Now, where were we?"

Once the two snatched evidence of the drug, the bulk of it laying mainly with Nick, they started sprinting down the hall way making no attempt not to be seen, they knew the faster they went the better their odds, there was no time for being careful.

"There they are!"

A wolf guard atop of a large railing shouted as he saw the duo running down a very long stretch of room where a multitude of chemistry sets was in display. Without hesitation the two started running to avoid the bullets the guard was shooting at them as more started flooding in from all corners of the room, almost like a swarm of bees.

Nick held tightly to his pistol. "I'll take some of the right railing you take the left, once we reach into the hallway I'll keep my gun pointed forward as you cover any possible other entrance from the sides are behind."

Nick saw Jack shoot a few bullets and the sound of a guard falling off the railing to his left.

"Already on top of it."

As Jack finished his reply unexpectedly the two already saw a few guards with pistols appear in front of them, they were being surrounded faster than they had anticipated.

But even so Nick didn't falter. Without hesitation he calmed his breath and started shooting a few bullets at the two. One made direct contact with one of the guard's arteries as the other two bullets hit the second guard in his chest knocking the wind out of him and causing his gun to spray bullets into the ceiling and railing above, also coincidentally taking out a few guards coming out of a room up there.

The two instantly pushed past the guards on the floor and into the hallway, being a little more careful with the multiple doors around them.

"How the hell did you become such a good shooter anyways."

Jack said with a happy smile on his face between his panting from running as Nick let out a smug chuckle.

"Don't ask me bunny because even I don't know the answer, just ask whatever god created me."

In that instant on the other end of the hallway a guard popped up ready to fire, but Nick was quicker on the trigger and in a few shots quickly took him out as he fell on the floor. "Ahead on right!" Nick shouted out as he was reloading his gun, the bunny catching his signal pointed his gun past his shoulder to shoot another guard that was behind the previous one, taking him out instantly as well.

Despite guards coming out left and the right the two were making it very quickly toward their destination, a few lucky misses and mostly precise shots coming from the duo making them seem almost unstoppable to the barrage of guards pouring out to them.

 _We can do it, we can make it!_

Was what Nick started to say to himself as they entered the final long stretch of room which afterward lead them to the storage area and the explosive exit they created. But just as they started sprinting out in the open, time suddenly started to slow down around them.

Footsteps… Jack and Nick both heard it above them to their immediate right, they looked up as they were running only to see a railing filled with 6 different guards all holding machine guns and an entrance that wasn't there before leading upward to something. Without hesitation the guards slowly started to pull the trigger as the two instantly darted to the left near the wall as a hailstorm of bullets followed.

They quickly ducked behind it as the rain of bullets continued; getting their breath back for the first time sense they started running.

"Haaa damn.. that was close.."

Nick said relaxing a little bit from behind the wall.

"Y-Yeah.. a little to close" Jack said next to him in a strained voice.

Nick's ears perked at the tone of his voice.. with concern he quickly turned his head over at the bunny next to him only to see him clutching on the bottom side of his stomach, blood spilling out and leaking through his paw.

Panic immediately spread over Nick's face and in his eyes as he quickly scurried up above the bunny carefully looking down at him and holding him slightly.

"No no no no no Jack! S-Shit!"

At that instant memories of the incident with Judy started to flood back into his mind, seeing the female bunny bleeding before him, seeing her body unconscious in the hospital bed... Nick started darting his eyes back and forth around the bunny and at the wound, his immediate reaction to start getting his first aid kit out as jack grabbed his arm with his other paw.

"N-Nick stop… there i-isn't enough time, it won't do any-"

"I have to do something!"

He shouted in almost defiance at Jack as he didn't respond right away.

Jack took a moment to collect his breathe straining his head up a little.

"Ah N-Nick, you have to leave me here… if you escape you can still-"

But without even listening to his words nick promptly and carefully lifted up the bunny in one of his hands.

"Wrap your arms around my neck…"

Jack looked up at Nick confused at first but before he could utter a word he barked.

"Just do it!"Almost like it was an order.

Not finding the words or time to argue with Nick he did as he said and held on to him tight, alleviating a bit of weight on his arms as Nick suddenly stood up and without hesitation sprinted down the other side of the hallway away from the guards pouring through.

In that moment when he had seen Jack on the ground bleeding, a multitude of emotions had flooded through the fox's mind. Everything from panic, to anxiety, to stress to depression to anger… it all weld up inside him as the tragic memories of his last big mission instantly came out to haunt him. But In that moment, that small time frame of all these potent emotions and memories almost attacking him from all sides.. instead of letting those memories halt his advance, preventing him from moving or making an action, he instead felt a surge of motivation within him. His brain started working at almost ten times the speed it normally could in that exact instant, and Nick was able to instantly lay out in his mind a plan...

As Nick was running down the hallway his feet started to feel strangely light, his entire body felt like it was in fact in the best shape of his life, he didn't even feel weighed down by holding up an entire bunny. His sprinting was faster and more calculated than ever before as he with relative ease started avoiding gun shots and guards left and right of him. Using his other free hand he held a pistol and started aiming it at a few guards in his way directly, observing something else strange. As he held his sight near one of the guards head and pulled the trigger, he started to notice how abnormally slow the time it was taking to hit the trigger was. He could feel the millisecond that the bullet had left the barrel and immediately moved his gun towards another guard, the guards themselves not even reacting as fast as they were before.

He was expecting the guard to start running or at least point his gun at him in response but.. he looked like he was almost frozen in time, and so without waiting another second he clicked the trigger again firing another bullet directly at his head _._ Never before had Nick had anywhere close to this much time to be able to align a shot so perfectly and move on to the next target with ease, but Nick didn't question the reasoning and continued forward, slowly but surely making his way through the new exit he was planning to run too.

Indeed if anything the memories of his failure had surged within him an entirely different emotion, one that had completely thrown out all other feelings in his body and replaced it with something new… determination. In his mind at that exact moment he was only thinking to himself.

 _I won't let that happen ever again! As long as there is breathe in me I'll never let anyone hurt this bunny… hurt Jack. I have already failed once and damn if I'm going to fail again, If they want to take something this precious away from me, they can do so over my cold dead body!_

Jack almost couldn't believe what he was seeing happen before his very eyes. Never once had he seen Nick run so swiftly yet so incredibly calculated before. Even on sharp turns he would take his momentum into account and actually jump on walls and turn himself around, almost taking after the bunny in some way. And his shots seemed almost unreal, anyone caught in his sight didn't even have a chance to react, every shot was a single and very deliberate shot that completely took down the target without fail.

Against all impossible odds Nick was shooting down every guard in their path and avoiding every single bullet that grazed by them. As the two continued to go further unscathed some of the guards actually started to flee instead of trying to shoot back. They could feel an old instinct of fear run through them as the fox in front of them with cold savage eyes took them out one, after the other, after the other. Even with a multitude of questions running through the bunny's mind at this moment the most confusing of them that he could feel was wondering where the hell Nick was going.

And suddenly as he asked that question to himself he found themselves on a railing.. they had somehow looped around onto the railing above where Jack had been shot. _There it is.._ Nick saw the opened up secret passage way that had sparked a thought in his brain earlier. The whole time they were running and being shot at the two guards next to the actual passage halted their guns, unlike everyone else they weren't trying to follow them… and if they weren't following them, that that meant they had to be guarding something; the passage itself! It was at that moment that Nick knew it lead to an exit, and after the two had taken so much time to catch their breath from the rain of bullets, Nick had a feeling their old exit would be blocked.

Nick sprinted at the two guards who in panic pointed their guns at him, to which just like everyone else Nick swiftly took out now holding one of the Jack's loaded pistols having discarded the other ones. And with a swift right turn he headed straight up the stairs and passage running for dear life and still hearing a few gunshots behind him. When he got up there he seemed to be in an office of some kind but had no time to discern, he saw the door and swiftly broke it open using his momentum and feet.

Just as the door snapped open a gasp could be heard throughout the living room as all the guests confusingly looked toward the sound. And in that same instant a Fox holding a bunny was suddenly seen sprinting right to the middle of the living room and jumping straight over the large table where the guests were gathered. Every single eye in the room was fixated on the fox above them in complete shock, even the guards themselves didn't pull out there gun or responded in any way completely flabbergasted at what was happening and unsure of what to do. Eventually Nick landed back down on his feet and continued sprinting right out of the front entrance.

And of course in that same instant Oliver and Bogo from a large distance, still staying vigilant in their task noticed someone suddenly coming out of the building with incredible speed.

"Who the hell is that.."

Bogo said as Oliver swiftly put the binoculars back on, seeing Nick running out with Jack in one of his hands.

"It's him! It's Nick! Sound the signal, go in now!"

Nick kept sprinting down through the yard towards the gate as a few of the guards behind him started to chase him, but before they could get anywhere near him the fox had disappeared behind two ZPD cars that rammed their way through the gate and right past him. And in that same instance more ZPD cars, officers and even SWAT vans started to completely surround the building almost appearing from thin air along with eve a helicopter.

Nick started slowing down as he saw a few officers approach the somewhat bloodied fox, but before they could say a single thing to Nick he shouted out. "Get the ambulance! Jack needs a hospital right now!" The officers stood still for a second but soon nodded at him in response and started running away from the estate, probably to an ambulance on hold by somewhere.

"Ah… Nick"

Nick's ears perked a little as he looked down at Jack, dropping his gun from his other hand and using it to support him further.

"Ah t-thanks.. it was getting hard to hold on.. I think I'm losing to much b-blood."

Jack said meekly trying his hardest to make a pained smile.

Nick clutched the rabbit tighter. "Don't worry just hold on a little longer, an ambulance will be here any second and you'll be ok!"

The fox said almost desperately, half trying to convince himself on the matter. Jack looked up at Nick with a shaky look in his eyes as he all of the sudden started to chuckle weakly.

"Hey Nick… do you think I'll get a chance to try wine at the restaurant too, I think that damned otter owes me more than just a dinner.."

Jack's breathing started to become a bit more rapid as Nick clutched him even tighter, trying to halt a few of his tears.

"Of course bunny.. you'll get as much wine as you want, by the end of the day we'll have to pay the butlers to carry us all the way home."

Jack let out a small giggle as he felt his eyelids close.

"I'd... like.. that."

Nick paused looking at Jack as the ambulance started showing up in the background.

"Jack?... Jack!"

Suddenly two animals from the ambulance hurried in front of Nick and took Jack from his hands putting him on a bed.

"W-Wait I-"

One of the animals stood in front of nick as the bed was being taken into the ambulance.

"Don't worry sir, I just checked his pulse and he's still breathing, he's just unconscious, we'll take him right away to the-"

"Take me with you!" Nick suddenly shouted out slightly surprising the animal as he calmed his voice down a little.

"…Please."

* * *

There was a strange type of silence in the ZPD infirmary that day, a single room with Nick sitting on a chair across from Jack, where the only sounds that could be heard was Jack's occasional breathing and his heart rate monitor. The scenario was very eerily similar to what happened almost half a year ago, with Judy. A small part of Nick almost felt like running away right now, just taking Jack out of his bed and running far away from this room… but of course, Nick knew that thought wasn't logical, and so he held onto his fists and forced himself to sit still.

Meanwhile chief Bogo was just a few rooms down from where Jack and Nick were.

"So.. how is he."

He said somewhat plainly but with a subtle hint of concern under his gruff tone. The nurse shook his head at him.

"Sorry chief we don't know yet, were still waiting on the scans from the doctor, until those are complete we don't really know how much damage has taken place."

"I see…"

Bogo said somewhat solemnly, not feeling sure on what else to ask the nurse.

"..Uhm sir, should I ask Nick to let him rest? I know we are working on the scans but visitor hours are almost over and, I know you're st-"

"Let him be."

Bogo replied softly yet with a certain authoritative sternness his tone tended to have.

"But sir-"

"I said let him stay Tina. You don't need to know the context of what that fox has been through up to this point, he deserves to know the answers sooner than anyone else."

That was all the chief said to her before getting up and leaving the room, the nurse only nodding in return.

Nick continued to sit next to Jack in silence; he couldn't help but think not of the events leading up to this point, but of the day before and his time before Judy's death. He remembered one of the biggest grievances he had with her untimely passing, not just being unable to save her or spend time with her, but never getting close to her. For the longest time he had kept all those feelings and emotions he had felt for Judy inside, locked away in a tight steel cage. He remembered at the time telling himself that it was because of their species, a bunny and a fox being together just wouldn't work, besides how would it affect their job as partners? what would others think?

But in hindsight Nick was able to see past those thoughts of his, all of those were lame excuses, excuses that Nick himself knew he didn't truly believe in. No, the real reason was he was afraid of opening himself up. Way before Jack and Judy that's what his entire life has been like, feeling too afraid and unsure of ever open himself up to others. It was like a little mask he wore to protect himself from feeling any pain from others during his con artist life style, the gazelle he went to after the bunny's passing had told him something similar awhile back too. Judy got closer to Nick than any other person he had ever known before her, she had opened up a lot of things inside Nick that he tried hiding away, as well as a new emotion he hadn't felt before, love.

But out of everything about himself that was the one he was most afraid of unlocking, the one with the most potential for harm. And so even from Judy he kept it secret, and before he had even known it she was gone. But yet, had he learned his lesson? No, not at all. Jack had taken over his life around the same time Judy had left his. He was a great friend beforehand when he had Judy but not in the same way he became afterward, he became beam of light and pillar of support for the fox during that trying period of time, and somehow managed to even succeed in getting Nick out of such a terrible rut.

And before he had even known it his locked up feelings had turned a new color, had changed into a different tune and once again started to try and come out. In fact they leaked out even stronger than ever before with Judy thanks to that one accidental kiss that drunken night. Yet even with this realization, and the feelings being stronger than ever before, he still rejected them.

 _And now… here you are again Nick. Alone.. in the infirmary, with the bunny you care about more than your own life, you have no idea if he's going to make it… and you didn't tell him a damn thing. You had so many opportunities that day, you could have not lied to him about what happened that night.. told him after the movies, even during training but still, you hide them._

Nick started bending down slightly in his chair holding onto his knees tightly, the fox starting to suddenly feel a somewhat familiar welling of emotions.

 _You stupid fox, when are you going to learn your lesson. Even if you learned it now you don't even know if it's already too late!_

Nick almost dug into his own knees as the emotions kept boiling higher and higher, eventually tears starting to trickle down his closed and straining eyes.

"Stupid fox…. Stupid fox!"

"Well… not all the time."

Nick's facial expression took a complete 180 as he opened his eyes wide in surprise, he hastily turned his head over towards Jack to see the bunny awake and looking over at him.

"You know.. you have a bad habit of beating yourself up to much.."

"Jack!"

Nick quickly got out of his seat and went towards the bunny holding his paw gently.

"Jack are you-"

Suddenly the door to the room was opened up before he could say anything, the two animals quickly darting their eyes over to an ant-eater in a doctor's outfit.

"Oh I see you're still here, I suppose the chief let you stay after hours."

Nick gave his full attention to the ant-eater. "Doctor… how is he, is he going to be.."

The doctor unexpectedly laughed a little at Nick's comment.

"Oh he'll be quiet alright Mr. Wilde don't you worry. After a full scan it seems that the bullet had completely missed all vital organs, and not only that It didn't even hit any major nerves or well.. anything at all."

Jack seemed even more surprised than Nick at this revelation looking almost confusingly at the doctor.

"Seriously!?"

"Very seriously! In all honesty the angle of the shot and location was incredibly lucky, the only part you could consider negative was the heavy bleeding but considering how fast we were able to get you here and transfuse blood it was of no issue, I think you should be able to leave the hospital in less than two weeks' time and able to walk fully capably. Ah but you'll probably want to wait at least a month before doing any-"

Suddenly Nick went up and almost comically hugged the doctor with all of his might.

"Ooohh thank you thank you thank you doctor! I could just kiss you right now if you uh.. weren't an ant eater, and I maybe knew your name."

The doctor only smiled and laughed at Nick's antics.

"The names Dr. Agnus… but I'd prefer you don't kiss me now that you know my name."

Nick looked down at the doctor for a moment and somewhat awkwardly released his hold and stepped back.

"Ah right sorry, well it works out sense I have a strict code against kissing folks with the last name Agnus anyways."

Jack started to snicker at the situation going on in front of him. In fact his snickering very quickly started divulging from a giggle into a small laugh… a big laugh even. All of the sudden Jack found himself almost laughing uncontrollably despite the pain in his lower right stomach. Nick looked back at the bunny but let out a somewhat relieving sigh at seeing him act up so much.

"Alright bunny come on it wasn't that good of a gag, I don't want you opening your wound after all; that can wait for another joke."

Jack's laugh slowly subsided as he wiped a few tears from his eyes.

"Haha no it's… it's not that. It's just I'm… so happy to see the old Nick back."

He said as he gave the fox healthy wide and closed eyed smile, completely taking Nick by surprise at Jack's response. Nick slowly walked over to the bunny and gave him a gentle but heartfelt hug as Jack returned the favor.

"I'm sorry Jack… I promise I'll make it up to you."

Nick let go of the hug and put his hands on his shoulders giving him a smile.

"How about this… the very day you get out of the hospital I, using all of Oliver's money, will take you out just like I promised. It'll be one of Zootopia's best and most expensive restaurants out there, with equally as expensive wine."

Jack let out a snicker upon hearing Nick's proposal and smiled up at him.

"Really I should be the one doing something for you sense you saved my life but.. I suppose using Oliver's money isn't really a favor sense were both taking something from that. So in that case… you got yourself a deal."


	5. Revelation

Nick carefully put his thoroughly ironed and cleaned suit on while adjusting his tie as he looked at his reflection in the mirror. Nick was checking out every single little detail on himself to make sure that he looked perfect for the dinner tonight; Cleaned teeth, groomed fur, properly dressed attire, he wanted everything to be as close to perfect as he could for today's plans.

Although he didn't know too many connections when it came to some of the fancier parts of town, he was still able to get in contact with a few guys, who may have known a few guys that knew someone that could perhaps get him and Jack a reservation at one of the hottest and most expensive restaurants in Zootopia; although even with the connections it still required a bit of sly charm from the fox to achieve considering how booked they normally would be, but he managed to pull it off as always. He knew exactly what the best red wine option was available in the restaurant as well as even some of the better options in their appetizers to start the two of them off with.

As he finished adjusting his tie he stared and made eye contact with himself mirror for a brief moment and begin feeling a tinge of nervousness, he had done extravagant little plans like this in the past as a con artist but this was way different then trying to get a few bucks off some hungry rodents. And what bothered him the most was that he could see the nervousness on himself with the look in his eyes, causing the fox to frown a bit at the mirror.

"Alright Nick come on, you can do better than this. I mean look at yah, your suit fits perfectly and has been cleaned head to toe. You took half an hour long shower and even bought a few grooming tools just so that every single follicle of fur on your body would look neat and perfect. And I mean really you've been out to eat with Jack how many times now? Way more then you could ever count in that brain of yours, no matter how brilliantly smart you are. Really at the end of the day this is just another hang out session like any other. And sure maybe it's a little bit of a fancier restaurant then normal but now got plenty of experience with that thanks to your new bunny friend and job."

Nick paused for a moment looking at the reflection of his eyes, still trying to read himself like he was almost another person.

"Alright so maayybbbee your other hang out sessions haven't involved knowing you'd fallen for that same bunny, and maybe those other times eating out also didn't include trying to think of the right time to ask if he was.. interested in you too."

Nick started to notice his face get even more nervous and almost a little down at the prospect of what might happen once he popped the question so to speak.

"But even so, this is nothing you can't handle."

He said raising his back while trying to give himself a pep talk.

"You are the slyest, most charming and devilishly handsome fox out there. It doesn't matter what pain you're going through, how nervous you really are or what you're thinking, you can exude confidence in any situation your put through." Nick started to give himself a smug grin in the mirror, trying to completely mask his other feelings as he continued to talk. "You know exactly how this evening is going to pan out. Once the rabbit gives you a compliment, something Jack always does when he starts to feel genuinely happy, you slyly go in for the kill. You look him dead in the eyes with that soft and sweet gaze of yours, you tell him."

"Jack, there's another reason I've taken you out here tonight. Sure part of it is to drain that otter of all his money and enjoy a fantastic meal out but, to be honest.. the main attraction on my mind is in front of me right now." Nick extended his paw out and pretended like he was holding Jack's. "We've been through thick and thin on multiple occasions now, not even counting what happened just a few weeks ago, and even though I don't know exactly when it happened.. something started to spark inside me when I was with you. The way you give off that suave grin when you joke, the way your face lights up when your happy, the way your ears sometimes twitch when you feel embarrassed.. really I can't think of a thing about you that I truly dislike. A long time ago when I was with Judy, I made the mistake of hiding my emotions from her, never getting the chance to be truly close with her like I wanted to in the back of my mind… and I don't intend to make that mistake again. I want to be more than just good friends with you Jack, I want you to be my **real** partner. And even if you're unsure right now.. If you'll at least give me the chance, I promise you won't regret it."

After his little speech to himself in the mirror the fox stood upright and put back on his self-assured grin of his and pointed both fingers at himself.

"You got this slick, now go out there and show that bunny the night of his life."

* * *

Nick parked his car in the usual reserved spot he and Jack got near the ZPD looking at the clock as he did, about 6:30pm, right on time. He got out of his car and started walking towards the entrance until he suddenly noticed that Jack was already waiting right outside the building for him. He took off his sunglasses he didn't even need and gave him a warm grin as Jack did the same walking a little closer to him.

Unlike when he was visiting beforehand Jack looked much healthier and a bit livelier, perhaps just because he was out of the old patient bed and garb and in his usual sleek and nice suit. Nick looked down at his partner as they halted in front of one another as Nick spoke up.

"Well well you're looking much better now, though I'm not sure if it's just the suit or if it's actually you."

Jack only smiled cooley back at the fox.

"Well I'd say it's a bit of both, after all I made a much faster recovery then expected. I still have a bit of bandage over it but not only can I walk without any pain, I can even do some sprinting if I want!"

Nick chuckled lightly. "Well that's great and all bunny but, let's try not to push it, maybe lay low on the high impact exercise for a while, better safe than sorry."

Jack rolled his eyes at Nick's response and started to walk past him to the car.

"What are you my dad? I thought we were going to a nice restaurant not listening to you try to lecture me." Jack said with a slightly more sarcastic tone.

"Ap ap hold up rabbit!"

Nick suddenly shouted as he ran in front of Jack towards the car, causing the bunny to look at him a little confused. Nick opened up the door to the front seat before bowing his head down.

"Ladies first."

He said without a hint of sarcasm making it seem all the more obvious. Jack gave Nick a somewhat irritated look as he started walking towards his seat, only to suddenly flick the fox's nose on the way up causing Nick to instantly put his paws around his front muzzle. Jack only looked down at the surprised fox with a returned sly smile.

"Thanks but I think you should check that nose of yours, last I checked I'm still a male. Not quit messing about and let's go."

He said closing the door on Nick, the fox only putting his hands back down and bringing up a grin again as he replied softly.

"Not that it matters anyways, I treat everyone equally on a date."

Jack looked down at Nick inquisitively through the car window.

"Did you say something?"

Nick walked around the car and plopped himself down in the driver seat, putting on his sunglasses.

"Nothing important."

* * *

Jack looked around in awe as the two entered the front of the building; the place was almost like someone turned a 1900's mansion into a full-fledged restaurant. The rather spacious area they were in was filled with more priceless adornments then the eye could see, lavish red carpeting with marble pillars, classic works of arts and a packed house filled with the upper echelon of Zootopia.

The Husky waiter looked at the two with a patient smile as he approached them.

"Excuse me sir's are you Nick Wilde and Jack Savage?"

Nick gave the waiter a very smug smile as everything was going as expected so far.

"Yes but I'd prefer you don't refer to us so fallaciously, I think you'll find we are both rather refined and civilized."

Jack started to snicker at Nick's comment and nudged the fox.

"Nick come on, this isn't just any café."

The waiter also chuckled slightly in response and put a hand up. "No it is quiet alright, if you're here then I think you more so then deserve to do a little jesting. Now if you'll follow me I'll take you to your seats."

The duo silently followed the waiter as they were taking in the grandiose nature of the restaurant as well as eyeing some of the famous members of Zootopia that were scattered through-out the place. Jack in particular seemed to be enjoying the site but was soon taken away even more as they saw their seats. Nick had somehow gotten seats up on the second floor of the building right next to a window, the window itself even having a fantastic view of the city light up at night.

"Here you are sir's, please take your time looking at the menu's, I'll be back shortly."

Jack almost jumped up on his seat as he looked over down at the city.

"Holy shit Nick how did you get seats like this in a place like this. In fact how the hell did you get us in here anyways, I didn't think when you said the most expensive place in Zootopia you were being so literal."

Nick smiled and amusingly chuckled at Jack's response as Nick sat across from him.

"You know I may be sarcastic but I've never lied to you, when I make a promise I aim to keep it. Not to mention that isn't the only view we have"

Nick started to point in the other direction from them as Jack looked at him confusingly. Jack turned his head to where he was pointing and saw a decently wide view of a good amount of all the patrons in the restaurant, and it took only a few seconds for him to click his meaning as his eye's lite up a little with almost the smile of kid.

"Oh my gosh Nick's that's such a great idea, you even thought of that too!?"

Nick only grinned slyly at the bunny as he pointed to a specific pair on the first floor.

"That female cat down there I'm willing to bet is only about maybe in college at best, but that Moose looks like he's almost in his 50's at best. Now the moose has a wedding ring, is a pred, and the cat has no rings. What do you think the story is there?"

The two started laughing more as they enjoyed another sip of their ridiculously expensive red wine, the entire bottle sitting at the middle of the table for the two, alongside the wine was also a few appetizers to snack on as they waited for their meals. Nick was looking down at a male chipmunk in some of the smaller seats with about three other female chipmunks surrounded around him in arms reach.

"And so after he calls his dad complaining more about how he absolutely just needs a few tens of thousands in cash to help pay off some extra loan on his 5th car deal, he probably before coming here just met these three at some random outside bar around the area. And then-"

But Nick stopped talking as he glanced over at Jack, he was looking away from him towards the window with a bit of a glazed look in his eyes, his smile seeming pretty much gone.

"Hey Jack.. are you okay?"

Jack then suddenly seemed to flick back to life a bit surprised at himself and quickly put back on a grin.

"Ah I'm sorry I was just dozing off about something, I'm fine I'm fine."

Jack didn't like talking about everything with Nick but the two were for the most part very open with one another, it was rare for them to hide things from each other.

"Do you want to talk about it."

Nick said without hesitation and in a calm demeanor, Jack shook his head.

"No it's fine I was just thinking of some dumb memories in my past, it's really nothing to worry about."

Jack went back to looking out the window and took another sip of wine as Nick stared at him with a seemingly bored expression, though on the inside he was starting to feel a bit concerned.

 _That's the second time he did that while I was telling a story. And now all the sudden there's an awkward silence in the air.. shit, did I screw something up? Did I maybe accidentally hit a nerve without knowing._

Feeling a bit apprehensive Nick casually started taking another sip of his wine thinking of where to take the conversation.

"Hey Nick… is there, something you wanted to tell me?"

Nick's eyes went a little wide as he almost choked up on the wine he was drinking from Jack's sentence, putting his hand near chest not to cough too much. And in that instant the smug and cool demeanor he was carrying for most of the night melted away like plastic in a furnace. In his mind he wanted to tell Jack on his own terms when the two were happily eating their meals and had a few glasses of wine in their system, he was not at all expecting to actually be asked the question by Jack. Feeling his plans almost crumble at just this one question Nick nervously looked over at the rabbit with a slight chuckle.

"Huh question? What do you mean, I just wanted to take us out for a nice dinner like I promised."

Nick trying to recover relaxed back down in his seat and went for another sip, this time with a bit more caution.

 _Real smooth there slick, there's no way he would catch that one…_

Jack looked down almost a tad bit sadly at the table for a very brief moment before he changed his expression a bit more neutrally

"Hmm I see…"

Jack said in an almost dejected tone, not something heard often from the rabbit. Nick felt like he could practically see the sweat starting to drip off from his face as he looked off to the side with a not so confident grin still desperately trying to maintain the situation right now.

"W-Well, how about we-"

"Dinner is ready Sir's"

The waiter suddenly said as he started putting down there plates, Nick immediately jumping in on the situation to bring up the mood.

"Oh excellent thank you haha. You know I was almost a bit surprised at first when you ordered their house salad but I keep forgetting you rabbits aren't big into grown meat, though you sure did seem to like that sushi earlier."

Jack at first didn't respond seeming to only stare at his dish for a moment, a small myriad of different feelings seemed to cross his face as he suddenly started laughing in a low tone and putting his hands on his face.

"Aahh jeez, I'm… I'm so sorry Nick I.. I guess I really brought this whole dinner down huh? I uh.. I didn't mean to I was just-"

Nick then at that moment reached his hand out across the table and gently held at one of Jack's paws, causing the bunny to stop talking.

"Jack.. It's fine. I understand that maybe there are a few more thoughts and emotions running through your head because of what happened in the last mission or, maybe just something else suddenly appearing in your life."

Nick said softly taking a bit of a stab in the dark for the reasoning.

"I know it was a few weeks ago now and the injury is fine but I know that isn't much in the long term and.. perhaps some thoughts of the past started popping into your head or, something you were thinking about in the infirmary. And it's fine if you don't want to talk about it at this exact moment, we can save that for later if you want alright?"

Nick at this point wasn't trying to feign any type of emotion; the only thing he was expressing was genuine concern for Jack and his own thoughts on what might be happening. Jack smiled gently back at Nick.

"Thank you I.. appreciate it. In fact let's not linger around that subject any longer alright, tell me more about those four chipmunks."

And so the night at the restaurant continued as they enjoyed their lavish meal, chatting with each other about the place or about the other patrons in the area. But ever since that event earlier, the conversation never truly recovered all the way through like he had hoped. They both tried their best but Jack still occasionally came off as distant or a bit awkward, and Nick himself didn't understand quiet why.

He considered himself good at reading people, hell he knew Jack very well but the rabbit was also surprisingly good at knowing how to keep to himself, almost the opposite of Judy in that regard. Jack avoided all the tricks in his book and little advancements he tried on the subject, even though Nick admitted he didn't execute them as slyly as he normally could. And so as a result Nick couldn't find the right time to express his feelings during the dinner, even though he still very much wanted too.

Afterward was unfortunately not much better for them. Their slight feigning attempt to upkeep a cheery attitude with one another mostly dropped on the night ride home, though it was mainly just Jack who wasn't responsive. As Nick was driving Jack to his place it felt like the two barley even exchanged much if any real conversation with each other, the few attempts Nick made seeming to fail every time. As the silence dawned on them Nick's mind began to wonder as he drove, trying his best to keep a neutral demeanor but finding that he couldn't help but be a little angry at himself.

 _Some night that turned out to be Nick.. You know what you should have done, you should have pressed him further. Maybe if you were a little smoother you could have eased whatever was on his mind, or better yet maybe just have taken that opportunity and completely spill the beans. And now the atmosphere is even more oppressive.. I can't even seem to start a conversation, and Jack's still won't tell me what he's thinking.. Does he maybe know? Or is it something else in his life.. I really can't tell._

And just as he was finishing his thoughts Nick parked his car in one of the spots in front of Jack's apartment.

"… We're here."

Jack looked up from his seat looking around almost caught a bit off guard, deep in thought like Nick was.

"Oh right.." Jack said in a somewhat dejected tone.

Nick looked over at the bunny with a bit of a concerned frown before speaking up again.

"Do you want me to walk you to your apartments?"

"Oh uhm yeah, sure."

Jack said in a somewhat half assed attempt to sound happy as he got out of the car alongside Nick.

The two silently walked with each other as they started getting in the elevator.

 _I have to tell him today.. I don't care what's going on through that bunny's head, there's no way I'm leaving here without him knowing! But.. when is the right time? I need to find an excuse to stay over, even if just for a little while._

As the duo walked up to Jack's door step and the rabbit started opening his door Nick immediately chimed his two cents in before Jack could even think of a response.

"Hey Jack listen, I know this sounds last minute and.. I know things were a little awkward at the restaurant but what's say we dump all this fancy get up and just hang out like usual huh?"

Jack looked up at Nick with a somewhat neutral and distant expression.

"Like… usual?.."

Nick nodded at him with a wide smile and entered his apartment without hesitation, flicking on the lights.

"I mean sure why not? You know there's always plenty of other bad movies we could watch together, maybe this time around we can just bust out a few beers and just relax like old times. Oh I know we can even-"

But Nick's overly optimistic expression was almost frozen solid as he turned around behind him to look at Jack. The bunny was standing there staring at Nick with his ears down and a depressed look on his face. But it was more so then just that, for the first time ever Nick saw Jack start to tear up right before his eyes. The two had been together for a long time at this point, even though technically it's been slightly less than a year their bond felt more like it had been 5. Jack had opened up to Nick on a number of occasions and he's seen those few rare moments of sadness that he hide, but not once in any of those moments had Nick ever seen his normally confident rabbit shed tears.

"You knew… didn't you."

Jack suddenly spouted out in a mixture of slight anger and sadness, his voice sounding almost a bit shaky between his forming tears. Nick put his hands up in response, completely unsure of what to do or what was even going on.

"Know what?"

"Come on Nick! Do you think I haven't noticed the way you've been acting up to this point! T-The dinner and even the events that happened weeks before today? I've known you a long time Nick, and I can tell when something is up, even when it's subtle or not easy to read I've known you long enough to see past that mask you keep up!" Jack said some of his anger starting to well up further.

Nick's ears folded down a little almost feeling the need to look away from Jack's intense and emotive eyes, yet he was still finding himself so flabbergasted that he couldn't look away, he found that he couldn't even respond to the bunny.

"Back then…. A couple of days before we were given that mission.. you lied to me didn't you?"

The anger in his tone seemed to start to wane off slightly as tinge of bleakness replaced it.

"That day… when I got too drunk and I couldn't remember what I did, you said all I did was pass out…. But I did **something** didn't I? Something that I can't take back, and ever sense then you've started acting strange around me, you became more distant.."

A few more tears started to swell into the rabbit's eyes as he continued to talk.

"And even this whole dinner was partially to blame for those events wasn't it? Don't think I haven't caught on or haven't known what you've been doing!" Jack suddenly yelled out in a flare of anger, only for it to subside almost immediately.

"You've… You've known I've fallen for you for a long time now, haven't you!"

Nick's ears twitched at this sudden revelation, some light coming back into his previously almost deadpan eyes.

"J-Jack"

"You Knew that, but you didn't want to tell me. You were afraid of losing the friendship we have now right? You were afraid that If you told me you weren't interested.. we'd become more distant.."

Jack balled his fist slightly as he felt another tidal wave of emotions welling up inside of him and going directly into his eyes, trying his best to fight off the feeling.

"And even this "date" was a feigned attempt in trying to reciprocate that same feeling I have for you I bet. Maybe you were hoping to find a way to return the feeling or just trying to make me feel better..."

Suddenly the feelings Jack was trying to hold back became too much for the bunny, tears began flowing freely out of his eyes as he started feeling a sob come on.

"But… but I don't want you to fake emotions for me! I don't want some kind of pretend love from you, I just want to be with you, the real you!"

His words started becoming sloppy between his sobbing as he continued trying to talk.

"And.. and I don't care if you don't love me but…. But I still just… I just!..."

Jack put his hands on his eyes as he started crying almost uncontrollably, feeling unable to find any more words to respond with as his emotions started leaking out of him.

Nick with his arms down stood there for a brief moment, very still in front of the crying bunny. His expression was almost strangely neutral, but not in an uncaring way. At that moment Nick also felt something well up inside him, one simple feeling start to take over his body. And it was an overwhelming feeling of complete and utter stupidity at himself. It was a feeling of stupidity not only at his own actions, but also at the fact of this situation occurring right now and everything that has lead up to this point. And as this strange dumbfounded emotion almost overwhelmed the fox, he simultaneously began reflecting on what Jack had said to him.

"You stupid bunny…"

Nick walked up to Jack as the rabbit removed his hands from his red eyes to look up at the fox somewhat towering above him. But he had absolutely no time to respond, no time to think and no time to react as Nick with one fell swoop bent down his muzzle right up towards Jack's own and started giving him a relentless loving kiss. Knowing that words would only waste time, Nick only spoke to Jack using action; continuing the kiss on the stupefied bunny he slowly caressed his hand along the back side of Jack's head and pushed his muzzle passionately closer onto Jack's.

Jack at that moment felt his emotions change into a state of complete and utter disarray. His mind couldn't at all register what was happening in this exact moment, but luckily for him his instinct took a hold of him faster than his thinking brain did. Eventually Jack found himself closing his eyes along with Nick's and slowly succumbing to the kiss. His own tongue started to join up with the fox's as he reached his own shorter hand around Nick's neck and reciprocated in full.

But the kiss didn't stop there. The two having held up their emotions for so long didn't want it to end, the kiss very quickly started to escalate between them. Nick started becoming slightly more assertive both with his tongue as well as muzzle, bobbing his head ever so slightly against the bunny and even parting their lips a few times in a very sensual way. In fact separating their lips occasionally became a requirement as the two had to start getting their breath back.

Then suddenly Nick holding Jack a little closer pushed him up against the side of the couch still continuing to now somewhat lustfully kiss the bunny.

"Jack.."

Nick started to speak quickly between their kissing and breathing.

"I love you."

Their lips went straight back together after that statement only for it to be repeated again.

"I love you… I love you."

Nick continued to say softly between every separation of their kiss that he could afford before Jack in response didn't even give him time to talk anymore.

But the two had become a bit to forceful as they ended up falling off the side of the couch right onto the couch itself, the two letting out a small "ummf" as Nick was suddenly on top of Jack they ended up locking eyes with one another, neither of the two believing what was actually happening right now. And as the meaning of what this event really meant for Nick began to dawn on him as well as Jack, the intensity in their silent gaze only flared further as they desperately searched into each other's eyes. Confusion, disbelief, ecstasy, jubilance, love… All these emotions and more were spiraling in a brilliant light as the two continued to stare without even so much as blinking; It was an event like nothing Nick had ever experienced before in their life, and it seemed to be the same for his partner.

Jack's lips started to subtlety quiver as the truth truly started to sink in, his mind now trying to desperately form a coherent sentence to say to the fox.

"Nick… I… you.. for.."

"I can't really say how long.."

Nick said instantly in response as if he were reading the rabbit's mind. "That night, what had happened was we well… ended up drunkenly kissing each other before bed. It wasn't anything intense.. it was only for a few seconds, but that short time span was enough to completely open the flood gates, both for all that transpired afterward and my true feelings. But like with Judy I think… I think my feelings for you have been there for a while.."

Jack shook his head in disbelief letting out an almost scoffing laugh as he comically put his paw up against his forehead.

"God I'm.. I'm such a stupid stupid rabbit! I-"

Nick quickly took Jack's paw away and gave him a loving smile.

"Hey, don't forget I'm just as stupid of a fox as you are a bunny. If I were actually smart, I wouldn't have lied to you about what happened that night and none of this would have happened."

Jack snickered lightly in response, feeling a little bit of humor rise from the situation as he brought back a little grin of his own.

"And.. I suppose if I was a smart I would have also been more straight forward with my own feelings and taken the plunge instead of hiding them."

Nick's smile had a small just ever so slightly bitter change from Jack's response. Nick recognized the irony in feeling a little saddened at Jack hiding also hiding from him the whole time, but he didn't want it to be that way anymore.

"Which by the way I must say you do an excellent job of hiding that, maybe even more so then me."

Nick retorted somewhat wittingly but with a subtle tinge of seriousness in his tone.

Jack frowned a little bit at his statement, catching his faint tonal change almost too well.

"Well.. were certainly different in a lot of ways but, at the same time we have a lot of similarities I think. If there is one thing I'm good at, it's not letting other people see my real feelings. When it came to you in particular after the incident with Judy I sort of saw myself as this.. pillar of support. In my free time I was feeling rather awful over her death as well and.. had a few moments of my own, but I kept them secret and continued supporting you, it felt more important than having to deal with my own emotions; after all you were taking it much worse than I did, and for good reason. And well I kind of did the same thing when I started feeling a sort of.. love for you."

Jack paused to recollect his thoughts as Nick only silently continued to listen, the two now laying somewhat next to of one another on the couch.

"I suppose.. some of the reasoning for it is just because of my background as an agent. Back in my M16 days, especially outside of Zootopia, my missions were my life. It isn't like here with the longest infiltration lasting at longest a week or two, I'd be undercover for literal months and in a few cases years playing as a character, almost becoming this new persona. Keeping your emotions in check, making sure nobody saw them unless you let them, I was professionally trained to do exactly that, very different from how you learned too. But.."

Jack's face turned somewhat bitter as he recalled the events of the dinner today.

"But despite all my professional training, despite how confident I've always been in being able to stay in control no matter what.. that dinner of all things was what pushed me. Honestly the restaurant the food the.. the everything, it was absolutely perfect.. to perfect. It really reminded me of why I loved you so much, you went so far out of the way just for me based on a silly promise, but for every bite of that sushi, every sip of wine and for every story you told me, it was like a small stab at my heart."

Nick couldn't help but frown somewhat sadly at that last statement, out of all the things he could have done the idea that his efforts in trying to make Jack happy actually hurt him almost made him heartbroken. Jack seeming to slyly detect this started to slowly and reassuringly rub his paw on Nick's chest as he simply continued.

"Way before this date, even despite how close we got with one another I had already convinced myself an "us" wouldn't ever exist; Like you I also have a good amount of pride in being able to read people, yet.. when it comes to this, these emotions and love I'm.. just no good with it, even if you had understood your own feelings back then it's.. hard to say I'd have seen. And so at the restaurant, all I could think about was how absolutely amazing and fantastic you were, all the while thinking I'd never get be with you and that you still just saw me as a friend. It was only in the car ride home that my thoughts started spiraling down further into thinking you were just doing it for pity and some desperate attempt at well…"

Jack simply stopped his sentence mid-way through and began laughing a little somberly at himself.

"Kind of pathetic in hindsight, isn't it?"

Nick gave Jack a delicate yet caring look as he slowly started caressing his fluffy cheeks, the rabbit closing his eyes in response and leaning his head slightly closer to the fox's paws.

"You're the only one here that thinks that Jack, neither of us are perfect.. and we never will be."

Nick slowly taking his paw back from his head gently grabbed a hold of the bunny and shifted him on top of himself, taking a moment to look back into Jack's eyes.

"I can't promise you I'll ever stop being a stupid fox, and maybe you can't promise me you won't ever stop being a dumb bunny… but it's exactly because you're a dumb bunny that I was able to fall in love with you... You're my dumb bunny."

Jack gave Nick a warm almost somewhat tearful smile trying his best not to cry again as he immediately went in for a strong and loving hug against him, Nick of course returning the favor.

Nick couldn't say he knew how long he laid there cuddling with Jack on top of him, but to be quiet honest he couldn't care less. If someone had told him they laid there for an entire hour he probably would have believed it, time seemed to almost abruptly stop just for the two of them. Nick could feel each heart beat and breathe of air against his chest, and for some reason no matter how faint each little movement Jack made on top of Nick was, there was something about it that made his heart beat just a little bit faster. Despite the fact the two never uttered a single word to each other during this brief reprieve, the air of silence wasn't awkward. The two had finally achieved a silence between them that was peaceful and heartwarming, a silence that was a true testimony for how comfortable the duo really were with each other at this very moment. Eventually a few thoughts started to formulate in the previously almost empty fox's skull, and so he started to speak up

"Hey Jack… how about we make a promise to each other."

Jack's ears perked up a bit as he moved his face away from Nick's chest, looking at him curiously.

"What's that?"

Nick felt himself having to actually hold back from responding with a witty loving comment instead of his promise just from the view of Jack's little head on top of him, staring right at him with eyes big enough to melt the fox's cold heart… Bunnies had clearly become the ultimate weapon against him

But he quickly pushed his thoughts back and spoke in a somewhat more serious tone.

"In the future, I want us to try our best to be more open with each other. I know that seems incredibly obvious but for guys like us, we need to say this straight up. It won't have to always be right away, but when the time is right, we communicate and talk about everything. And this promise most importantly includes revealing our emotions to one another, if you can follow that then maybe, just maybe... I'll consider dating you." Nick said ending his sentence with a smug grin.

Jack looked up in the air and put a finger on his chin, pondering with a loud hum and sarcastic smile.

"Hmmmm I don't know…"

"Plus you'll get the chance to kiss a devilishly handsome fox every night." Nick quickly retorted as Jack looked back at Nick and let out a small snicker.

"Alright Mr. Slick you got yourself a deal, just so long as you don't mind having a bunny for a partner." Jack said with slightly seductive half closed eyes as Nick did the same with a wide grin.

"Honey I've been having rabbit's as partners for all my life, or at least for the parts of my life that matter; wouldn't say I'd have it any other way."

The two moved their faces in closer to each other and closing their eyes all the way engaged in a much more delicate and softer kiss then before, but still layered with a strong passion for one another. However during their short kiss Nick suddenly reached one of his hands around the bunny and gave him a little bit of a squeeze, causing Jack to jump in surprise, abruptly ending their kiss.

"W-Woah hey, what are you doing!"

He said mildly embarrassed as Nick amusingly chuckled at seeing Jack get flabbergasted so easily.

"What it was just a little playful pinch~ You know we have quite a bit of free time again, and I was thinking…"

Then surprising the both of them the TV suddenly turned on to the news, neither realizing the remote had gotten pushed under the couch and they had accidentally hit the power button.

"There has been no report about who had sent this radio signal but shortly after the broadcast had ended half of the station that was transmitting this message had gone up in flames. Luckily there seemed to have been no casualties other than a few mildly injured by passers; but the situation at the station itself only seems to be escalating."

The two looked over at the screen confused for a moment as just a few seconds later they heard a call go off on Jack's phone, the ring tone clearly being from the chief. Nick started to frown and groan out loudly as he laid his head back on the couch.

"Seriously? Can't a fox just get a little bit of alone time for once."

Jack seemed to feel the same way as Nick and let out a slightly less sigh before smiling rather plainly at Nick.

"Well, guess we don't have a choice; after all we are ZPD agents. For now let's just answer the call, we've got work to do… partner."


	6. Same Day, Different Mission

Hey guys! I just wanted to quickly let you know that chapters from now on will be somewhat shorter but coming out hopefully somewhat more frequently. The pace I was going at before was a bit to much to upkeep with two different stories and not to mention other obligations in my life. Either way I'm glad people have been enjoying it up to this point and hopefully i can keep that consistent!

* * *

Nick let out a quiet but audible groan as Jack started to shift away from him to reach for his phone, only to suddenly be blocked by the fox's paw as he pulled the rabbit back in quickly. Jack looked back at nick in slight confusion.

"Ah hey Nick what are you-"

"Can't we just answer it later…"

Jack was about to let out a bit of a laugh in response until he looked back and saw the expression on his face. Nick wasn't at all even bothering to hide what he was feeling or thinking at the moment, he was legitimately upset and adamantly against him answering chief Bogo's call.

Jack still didn't seem to fully understand him and only furrowed his brow in further confusion, Nick soon letting out a sigh at seeing Jack not respond.

"Sorry it's just… It's felt like it's taken so long to get to this point, for us being together right now and laying here.. I know it's selfish but, I don't want to let this moment go just yet."

Jack's expression softened a little bit at his words as he momentarily ignored the phone and grabbed the both sides of Nick's face gently, forcing them to lock eyes.

"Look Nick.. I know how you feel, believe me I really do but, this isn't something we can ignore. After the mission we'll have plenty of time to be together. Once everything's said and done we can hang out as usual... watch movies like we always do… snuggle against each other in bed… maybe even a few more kisses.."

Jack's voice started becoming more sensual near the end of his sentences as he started slowly caressing Nick's cheeks, causing the fox's eye's to almost roll up into his head until Jack quickly put a finger up against his nose.

"But not today.." He said with a smug smile.

Nick in return gave Jack a slightly irritated look at his interruption of the mood, but he inevitably ended up resigning to the bunny.

"Alright fluff you win, let's just take the call and get this over with then shall we?"

As Nick let him go Jack quickly got off the couch and walked over to his phone which stopped ringing, looking back at Nick with that another smug grin.

"Didn't you only call Judy fluff?"

Nick feeling a little less tense put on his own cocky grin and casually stretched his arms to the back of his head while Jack started calling back Bogo.

"Judy isn't here anymore, so there's only one fluff now. But you know I was thinking that I need unique Nick-name just for you, like Stripes."

Jack snickered a bit. "not very original of-"

"Jack?"

Bogo suddenly answered as the rabbit immediately switched his tone over to something more professional.

"Yes chief, you need us?" There was a small silence on the other end of the phone.

"This isn't like the usual briefing Jack, come to the ZPD immediately, Nick can come if he chooses."

Without another detail Bogo hung up the phone to the slight confusion of the rabbit. Nick looked over at Jack curiously seeing the bunny's expression.

"Everything alright?"

Nick said in concern as Jack turned over to him with a more neutral expression.

"Chief only asked me to come for some reason… I don't know why though. I suppose, it's only optional for you to-"

Without hesitation Nick got up off the couch and started adjusting his suit with a smug grin.

"Well then let's go."

He didn't need to hear the rest, there was no way he was going to just let Jack go off on his own after what happened today. Jack in turn simply responded with a warm and determined smile before giving him a quick nod; and without any more exchange of words or glances the two took off to their car and left the apartments.

* * *

The ride over to the ZPD was once again, filled with silence. At this point it was almost becoming a theme of the two, but even though it was reoccurring, every time the there was a silence between them it always seemed to have a different feel to it. Sometimes in an air of boredom or grogginess the silence was just the result, but they've also had plenty of stagnant awkward silences where they wanted to talk but couldn't, sometimes an almost oppressive/depressing silence… but now there was a somewhat different type of silence in the air, a rather strangely apprehensive one.

As Jack continued to drive without so much as a word Nick couldn't help but every once and awhile give a few glances over at the bunny. There didn't seem at first much to look at, Jack holding a rather neutral expression as he drove, but looking at the him this time around felt so.. different. He felt a somewhat uncomfortable knot tie itself in his nerves when he found himself staring for too long. But even so he still wanted kept going back, he kept focusing on so many little details from the follicles of fur on his head, to the shape and color of his eyes. It soon dawned on him why he wanted to look over at the bunny despite feeling almost uneasy about doing so, he wanted to do more than just stare at him… Nick however quickly put the reigns on his thoughts and turned his head toward the window seat resting his paw on his chin.

 _Jeez get a hold of yourself buddy, it's just a car ride just like any other. Maybe I had a good reason for getting scared to get close with someone if this was going to be the end result.. how the hell am I supposed to work when all my brain seems to want to do is work against me..._

Against his better judgment however Nick ended up through the corner of his eyes looking over at Jack again; and to his surprise, Jack was doing the same at that exact moment. The two locked eyes for just a split second before they both very quickly looked away from one another, now a sudden tinge of awkwardness returning in the air.

 _Hey hey come on now seriously, you're supposed to be the professional one right now! If you're also thinking the same thing as me then.._

Suddenly in an abrupt stop they parked in front of their usual reserved spot, almost causing the fox to fumble out of his seat from the shock.

"Where here!"

Jack exclaimed in a strangely assertive tone before going silent. Nick quickly regaining his composure pulled at the sides of his suit and put on an equally calm expression. He took a few moments to relax his mind and thoughts before breaking the silence.

"Alright fluff… let's just go and-"

Abruptly cutting short his sentence Nick felt his tie quickly pulled down by Jack as he immediately landed the fox's lips with his own and went in for a sloppy kiss. Nick only looked in wide eyed bewilderment as the kiss was suddenly pushed upon him before Nick nervously pushed the rabbit away from him.

"J-Jack we're In the front of the ZPD building!? What if someone see's us in here!"

Jack however only smiled happily at Nick's rather loud retort with a small tinge of embarrassment on his face, but seemingly not because of what he said.

"Nick we have a professional vehicle remember? All the windows our tinted black enough so that nobody can see us."

Nick blinked in slight confusion as what the rabbit said sunk in and he felt his memories and basic motor functions return to him. Jack scratched his cheek a little and looked off to the side.

"Sorry I guess it uh, was a bit to sudden huh? I just thought you know with the, kind of awkward car ride we had that maybe a quick-"

Suddenly the bunny's words were completely subdued as the fox with a sudden leap jumped right on top of Jack and practically landed his muzzle right up against his lips. Nick practically almost pinning the bunny down assaulted Jack with his rather sudden lustful kissing as he used one paw to keep the bunny down on the seat and the other to start gently feeling him up while he let his lips do most of the work on Jack's own.

If anyone could see in the window right now they would see a fox's tail right up in the air wagging back and forth while being bent over a small bunny who didn't at all seem to have any intention to resist his onslaught. Soon Nick felt his lips naturally part from the rabbits and start to slowly hover over his neck, licking and gently nibbling on it as he kept himself firmly planted on top of him.

"Ahh.. Nick…"

Hearing a moan from his bunny only urged him to keep continuing forward as he couldn't help but explore his hand further around Jack's soft yet well trained body.

"Nick.."

Feeling up Jack even further he began-

"Nick!"

Jack suddenly spouted out at him shocking the fox from his tone as he swiftly looked back up at Jack. The rabbit now having his attention took a moment to catch his breath as he stared sternly at him.

"I think we should.. maybe go see Bogo before he starts to suspect something, or smell something.."

Nick regaining some of his senses looked down at the rabbit and even noticed his entire hand was lodged inside his undershirt and his paw at his chest. He quickly retreated his hand and just as quickly pushed himself off of the rabbit, sitting back down at his seat feeling a bit embarrassed from letting his instinct take over.

"Right right I uhm… sorry."

Nick looked down feeling a need to scold himself for not controlling his own actions, these crazy last few days have stripped him of to many sensibilities. Jack let out a small sigh as he started to adjust his shirt and suit a little, trying to also regain his composure even though it was at the moment far from perfect.

"I-It's fine… do you always act so aggressive with all your dates?"

Jack asked in a teasing manner trying to lighten up the situation. Nick taking the question somewhat seriously scratched the back of his head.

"Well no actually, I've never done something like that or acted this way with anyone else before... only you."

The rabbit looked at Nick with a somewhat embarrassed astonishment not expecting a serious answer and quickly averted his gaze from him as he felt a strong blush crawl on his face, coughing a little bit into his paw.

"W-Well regardless we should probably get going.."

Nick looked over at Jack with an almost equal amount of astonishment at his reaction but soon found his own expression turning very smug at the rabbit's cutely flustered face.

 _Well would you look at that. You know I always pegged it down as almost impossible to ever truly make someone as experienced and open as Jack truly embarrassed, but it seems like I may have found the bunny's weakness; and the reward is oh so much sweeter than I ever thought it would be. I will have to make sure to take full advantage of this.._

Nick thought to himself rather devilishly as he started opening his car door.

"Whatever you say boss, though try not to make your tail wiggle so much around chief Bogo, as cute as it is."

Jack could feel his blush come through a little heavier but only responded in slight irritation at Nick's words, turning his head away from him and almost puffing out of his seat despite trying to hide it. Nick simply continued to smugly smile as they started casually walking side by side, putting on his sunglasses despite entering the building.

 _Almost too easy.. It's really is as you said carrots, a small part of you still lives within Jack, and I tend to tease that part of him for all it's worth._

Nothing seemed particularly odd about the ZPD building that night, always a few nocturnal officers on duty with the place moderately less busy, though oddly enough ClawHauser was still at the front desk and not Hootey. The cheetah seemed both a bit nervous as well as tired but regardless gave the two a warm smile as they approached the front desk.

"Oh hey guys! Chief says he's not in his usual office right now, he's in the ZPD meeting room instead."

The duo looked back at each other inquisitively then back at Clawhauser before Nick spoke up.

"And uhm why exactly are you on station so late anyways big guy, don't you usually leave around nine?"

Clawhauser let out a slow and lazy yawn before responding.

"Yeah well, I was told I couldn't leave yet until everyone that needed to show up for the meeting did.. luckily you two are the last ones so, I'm gonna start hitting the hay I think.."

Nick wanted to ask him a few more questions as to what was going on but he had the feeling he wouldn't know the answer anyways.

He nudged over at Jack who seemed to be a little out of it.

"Come on buddy lets go."

Jack followed Nick in silence seemingly trying to think about what was exactly going on right now, Nick noticing his subtle expression.

"We'll get the answers once were at the meeting."

he said rather plainly trying to ease the bunny's mind, as well as his own.

To the two's surprise once they entered they saw all the usual suspects, or in this case officers they were used to seeing or talking with at lunch. Fangmeyer, Mchorn, Delgato and just a few others were all sitting down in their seat rather quietly. Chief Bogo eyed the two as Nick walked along and sat down in his seat almost out of habit, Jack being the only one feeling a little confused and eventually taking the hint to sit next to Nick on the same seat.

"Well now that everyone's here, let's get down to brass tax. I'm sure you're all wondering why I called a few of you up late at Night, and I'm almost certain all of you either heard the radio signal or saw what happened on the nightly news today. And although we already have officers immediately dispatched to the area long before any of you were called here.. this is a special circumstance, as you can see with Nick and Jack being here."

Gazes from the other officers looked over at the duo for a brief moment as Nick and Jack only reacted in more confusion, not really having an answer for why they were there either. Chief Bogo also looked over at Nick and Jack for a moment.

"Have you two heard the radio signal?"

Both of them shook their heads almost simultaneously before Jack spoke up.

"We only even saw the news on the T.V out of coincidence." he replied dryly not bothering with any details on what they were doing.

Bogo let out a small huff through his nostrils.

"Alright then, I'll replay the signal quick; it was broadcasted through multiple radio stations simultaneously as well as even through a few T.V channels without any video."

The two listened carefully as chief Bogo pressed the replay button.

"Good evening gentlemen and gentle ladies, as I'm sure some of you know thanks to the mayor's absolutely generous initiative to bring the not so infamous Jack back to Zootopia, all the crime and underground spots we were all oh so used to have almost disappeared over night. It seems like there has appeared a very huge gap in power down here…"

The voice was very deep and almost dripping with a cocky but somewhat malicious sarcasm. Nick himself knew quite a few names of dealers both due to his job now and even his previous hustling "job", but he always made it a point to avoid the more hard core deals and dealers.. he only would know them by name.

"So with the sudden disappearance of my brother along with over half of all the crime lords of the underground, I think it's time I bring my name to the fore front.. and I intend to drag Jack down along with me..." He said with a slight bit of anger at the end of his sentence.

Nick's ears perked at the sound of Jack's name, mentioning it before was already odd enough but he was clearly putting an attack on him with that last statement. Nick briefly looked over at Jack to see what he was thinking, and his expression was practically nonexistent. His eye's seemed coldly professional and neutral, not at all seeming bothered by whatever this animal was talking about.

But.. Nick knew better then to believe that kind of body language from him, Jack may be hard to read when he's acting friendlier or talking but anyone that knew Jack knew he didn't respond like this to a mission briefing. He was a little too stiff, and normally his expression would show a bit more concern or thought, he was trying very hard to hide whatever he was feeling right now.

"So come and get me jack rabbit! You know I'm right at the station now, you can finally-"

"Hey!"

A sudden voice shouted in the background of the recording as the sound of gun fire was heard.

"S-Stop what are you!"

An explosion was heard only for a brief moment before static cut off the signal, Bogo turning off the recording.

"Our sources gathered a sudden explosion was set off in the station, as you can tell it's doubtful it was according to their plan. We don't know who set it off, how, or why.. but what we do know is that almost half the building is down and the man who put up this signal is still in the building, now surrounded by other ZPD officers."

"Speedy…"

Jack mumbled lowly under his breath, but with the silence of the meeting everyone was able to hear him. Chief Bogo adjusted his stance slightly and responded.

"Correct, that would be his street name not only due to his agility, but what he dealt in. He used to work under his brother back in the day, Jack here at the time took down his brother and later-"

"Chief can we save the history lesson for later."

Jack replied almost aggressively but keeping in air of professionalism and seriousness to his tone, Bogo simply nodded to him and immediately dropped it; only causing Nick to become even more suspicious about the circumstances.

"Getting more to the point, given the very clear threat to Jack and the fact he himself is more familiar with the lot of you then any other officers, we were hoping for you all to provide agent Savage with back up for an infiltration. Considering he has both the most skill of anyone in here along with a past connection with the culprit, I believe Savage is by far the best candidate for the mission. However if I'm being honest, this plan is much more circumstantial then professional, I came up with this idea in my trust of agent savage's ability and competency up to this point, however none of you are under technical obligation to-"

Without hesitation Fangmeyer stood up from his seat with a determined smile on his face.

"Chief you know you don't have to tell us all that technical jargon, I already made up my mind long ago."

The rest of the ZPD officers started to stand up as Jack himself also did so accepting the mission with a determined look on his face. Nick was the last to follow suite but showed no signs of wavering in his decision regardless. Bogo seemed to almost expect this and looked down at the fox as he stood up.

"Officer Wilde or… agent Wilde I should say, although you are directly under Jack's command, while also of course being his partner, the plan does not require your assistance, out of everyone here you have the least obligation to join."

Nick put on a rather smug grin and had already thought of a witty response to the chief. But before he could so much as open his maw to speak up, Jack to his surprise started talking.

"Nick maybe you should… go, I can do this myself."

He looked down at Jack with his brow furrowed in confusion at his words, not at all expecting Jack to reject him. Nick opened up his mouth about to retort to him but Jack once again interrupted him before he got the chance.

"It's fine!"

The rabbit half shouted out before calming his voice again, his tone still remaining somewhat neutral.

"I can handle this mission alone, it's better this way.."

Jack didn't even so much as turn his gaze over at Nick, he simply stared forward in front of him rather passively.

Nick looked over at Jack thoroughly unimpressed with his deadpan response.

 _So that's how you want to play it huh…_

Still not giving in Nick quickly turned his head over to Bogo and raised his handed.

"Chief Bogo, from this point forward I resign my position as Jack's partner and as an agent under him, from hence forth I wish to only be a ZPD officer. And.. as a result my only request is to back agent Savage along with the other officers here to the best of my abilities."

Chief Bogo only crossed his arms raising a slight eyebrow to Nick as Jack broke off his professionalism and looked at Nick in shock.

"Nick! What are you saying!?"

Nick only grinned cockily at the rabbit and bent over looking at him.

"You aren't getting rid of me that easily fluff, you can try to push me away from being your partner, but I'll always still be your **partner**."

As he expected that got a pretty big reaction out of that stubborn bunny, the others around them would only assume he meant that platonically of course, but he knew Jack would get the real meaning. Jack cleverly hid his emotions despite his initial response and took a second to maul over what he said. Eventually giving in he let out a small sigh and relaxed his face.

"…Don't actually quit being an agent Nick, I.. you can.. join me on the mission alright."

Nick quickly stood right back up with a more relaxed and happy smile on his face feeling victorious.

"Fantastic! Well then chief I believe we have all wasted enough time on this debriefing as is, we should probably head out before the situation escalates."

Bogo's face remained somewhat neutral almost half expecting this to be the outcome having gotten used to the fox's antics by this point.

"Very well then… men, dismissed!"


	7. A Turn for the Worst

Silence was becoming a better acquaintance to Nick then he'd prefer. Even in a van full of police officers and alongside a properly suited up Jack, Nick couldn't think of a single thing to say.. he wasn't even sure if he should. He'd hoped there would be playful banter to ease the situation even if only superficially, but apparently the lateness of the day and strangeness of the situation had put a cork in everyone's pipe.

Nick sighed. He always had a keen sense of detecting the atmosphere and reading other mammal's moods. It had kept him alive and comfortable during the period of his life on the streets, and with a spotless record, to boot. Even for how unhappy his previous life was he would never forget what he learned from it. But being able to read the mood unfortunately didn't mean you had the ability to change it.

"….Nick."

Jack spoke quashing the silence in the van as the fox looked down at his partner.

"Sorry for trying to push you away earlier. I know you were trying to make a point with that whole pretending to quit the unit thing and I get it, I do. But.. I just…"

Jack let a long pause linger in the air and avoided eye contact with Nick. His digits tapped lightly on his thighs as his ears lay coldly stiff down on his back. Nick seeing his apprehension let out an audible sigh and spoke for him.

"And I get it too. This is personal and you felt like it was something you had to do yourself right? But you know this isn't just some awkward family get together you have to deal with yourself, it-"

"I know I know." Jack sighed. "It involves an actual mission that could endanger my life, and so you had to stick your fox nose in my business, right?" Jack looked up at Nick with a light smile.

Nick gave him a soft grin in return. "That's right Stripes, you can't hide a bunny from a fox's nose after all."

Jack's smirk remained plastered on his muzzle as he closed his eyes and lay his head back on his seat.

"Thanks…"

Silence once again returned to the van. The officers tried not to pay too much attention to the pair's personal conversation, but Nick could tell they were listening by the relief that appeared on their faces. Nick ended up releasing a breath he didn't even know he was holding; their relief overtaking him as well. The tension in the air had dissipated and he felt like he could relax for the first time before the mission.

After a few minutes, Nick felt one of Jack's paws discreetly placed onto his own. Jack slowly stroked Nick's paw without talking, neither of the pair looking at one another as they shared a secluded moment together. It was a very small gesture, but the gentle tremors in Jack's fingers warned Nick of the building nervousness in his partner. Nick very subtly returned the gesture by wrapping one of his fingers around the rabbit's digits, still staring at the wall. Jack breathed an almost inaudible sigh, and the shaking of his paws went still.

 _Don't worry Jack… I'll be here to protect you, always._

Eventually the van arrived at the scene, stopping up near a barricade a few other officers had already set up. The fire didn't seem too intense or visible to Nick, with the exception of the smoke constantly rising from the building. As everyone got out Nick quickly scanned the area to try and get a better idea of exactly what happened.

 _So let's see here.. Only one ambulance, so I suppose there should at least be some truth to the casualties count, though I find it hard to believe nobody got hurt based off that signal interruption.. Seems more likely that the ones injured are Speedy's henchmen holed up in the building considering there hasn't been any advancement up to this point. If anything the only thing everyone's doing here is securing a hold on their position and making sure nobody leaves the building, almost like a stand off.. do they have a hostage?_

A black panther in uniform quickly approached Nick and Jack. He held a radio in one paw that he was speaking into on the way over. Nick thought the fringes of his fur looked frazzled as he walked over.

"Looks like you two finally arrived. We-"

"How many hostages?"

Jack asked, interrupting the officer. "The west entrance to the building near the crumbled cement doesn't have much coverage. Are the majority of criminals leaning on the east end where most the building is intact?"

The panther paused for a moment before regaining his composure. "Er yes. That's the gist of the situation."

Nick put on a small grin as he approached both his partner and the panther. "Don't worry your furry little head about it uhh.. Fangs?"

The panther's ears twitched at Nick's nickname. "It's Panthora.. Detective Panthora."

"Right, right Pandora, well as much as we appreciate the briefing, I think my partner here has got a good read on what's going on. Buuutt let us know if anything changes."

Jack's face remained stoic as he started walking away from the panther.

"Let's go.." He muttered dryly. Jack's impatience surrounded him like an aura, and so Nick getting the picture followed close behind him, but not before gave a little goodbye salute to the somewhat confused officer.

"Jeez a little harsh on the cold calculated gaze there, huh Stripes? I know it's a mission but maybe ease up a little. All this tension isn't going to help you."

Jack abruptly stopped walking. He took a moment to compose himself, his eyes remaining focused on the building in front of him.

"There's no easing up with him Nick.. If were not careful in a situation like this, he could escape. I have to catch him. No, I need to." Jack finished. Nick internally winced at the aggression in his voice.

Nick knew Jack tended to get a bit more serious and professional during a mission in contrast to his usually more laid back demeanor. But even so the distance he felt between the two of them was difficult for Nick to put into words. He couldn't shake a sense of foreboding from the way Jack was acting, but he decided it was best to just shut up for the time being and follow Jack's orders.

And as expected of the two after having worked together so long, the simple plan they came up with seemed to go off without a hitch. A few partially injured guardsmen were spotted near a hallway connecting the printing room to one of the offices; they were to be discreetly dispatched before taking out four other mammals that were all separated and guarding various entrances that lead to the room Speedy himself was held up in. Afterward the two were to meet up and take care of any other guards not reported in the vicinity.

Nick and Jack worked with almost flawless coordination as they subdued the two already partially handicapped guardsmen in the hallway, each one taking the other individually with a few swift hits and no fired shots. The two then momentarily separated as Jack took two mammals covering entrances to the North and Nick was In charge of taking the two mammals closer to the south. Everything from their momentary separation to even taking down un-counted mammals went as smooth as it possibly could go.

Nick couldn't help but notice a small edge in the way his partner handled things. He was more aggressive than usual with his leg strikes and takedowns. It was subtle, but Nick could swear there was a rage threatening to boil over in Jack as they progressed toward the eastern wing of the building

Jack, up to this point, was fairly dismissive of whatever history he had with Speedy, but the more details he kept noticing of how his partner was acting, the more questions Nick found himself without answers to. He was hoping for at least a few straight answers out of Jack once this was done with.

 _And when_ _he's put in jail for good_ , he thought.

Several more guards fell before Jack and Nick as they moved toward their goal. It wasn't long before the two made it all the way up to the office Speedy was holding up in, just a few feet away from the entrance. Other than a window on the other side where they got the confirmation on his location, the only way in was through the door in front of them. Jack quickly radioed the ZPD officers that had been giving them back up.

"Any escapees? Any visual on Speedy himself?" he asked. After a few seconds of radio silence, a voice crackled through the speaker.

"Negative on the escapees., We've been scouring the place behind you, and so far there has been no resistance. We've gotten no word that he's moved. According to the reports before the window was closed, Speedy was holding a single hostage by himself. Our spotters can still see his shadow and the hostage through the blinds."

"Understood, over and out." Jack responded before turning the radio off. He looked over at Nick.

"Stay just a few feet behind me when we break open the door. I'll take the lead."

Normally, Nick would have a witty little quip at this kind of order, but he held his tongue, thinking better of it. He only gave Jack a quick nod and followed his lead as they kicked open the door together, holding their pistols at the ready.

"ZPD! Paws where I can see them!" Jack shouted with an authoritative tone as the door flew open. The hinges had nearly splintered from the force of their combined kick. The inside was littered with office equipment and furniture, and a wide desk sat between the officers and the three mammals in the room. It wasn't Speedy and a hostage, though. A tiger armed with a machine pistol was pointing it at the door, and an antelope stood to his side who began drawing a gun from behind his back. Speedy stood in front of them, and he and the tiger smirked with malicious intent at Nick and Jack's intrusion. There had been no hostage; the antelope described by the spotters had been working with them from the beginning.

The half second before everyone in the room took action felt like an eternity to the pair. Speedy acted first, sprinting toward the fox and rabbit. He leapt over the desk and charged directly at them. The two could only react in an instant by training their weapons on Speedy's co-horts who were aiming their own guns at them.

Gunfire reverberated through the room, and the tiger and antelope fell backwards with blood seeping through their clothes; And although they succeeded in disabling them, they had no hope of countering the cheetah charging at Nick.

The cheetah pounced and expertly grappled at the fox and regained his posture while doing so, and within almost an instant Speedy had a vice grip around Nick with a gun pointed directly at the fox's head. Any struggling Nick could do was in vain, the fox could only scowl at him as he very quickly figured out he was overpowered.

"Drop it, fox, or you won't want to see what happens next." Speedy growled. Nick let go of his gun, which clattered to the ground with a heavy thud. Jack sucked in his breath and shifted his aim at Speedy's head, which was mostly concealed behind Nick.

The violence only took a matter of seconds to transpire, and the end result was a standoff with Speedy holding Nick hostage as Jack nervously tried to find a shot. The cheetah wore a shit eating grin and bared his fangs.

"Well, hello to you too, Jack.… Long time no see."

The nervousness Jack was displaying took a back seat as his face contorted in rage at the cheetah.

"Speedy, release him right now! We've got you surrounded, and there's no way out!" Jack demanded. A grating cackle filled the room as Speedy laughed.

"Oh, and why would I do that? Afraid of a repeat of last time are we? Though, I wonder how much you really care about this fox…"

Nick didn't understand the exchange that was happening between the two, but he wasn't one to crumple up in a situation like this. Jack had even specifically trained him in how to handle hostage negotiation and even what to do when taken hostage.

"You aren't going to kill me. The entire place is surrounded and you've used this clever ruse as the only means to escape because you already screwed up earlier." Nick said, retaining his trademark sass., "I've conned people long enough to know when a plan goes awry." Speedy cocked an eyebrow at the fox he had in a headlock, but only laughed harder when Nick finished speaking.

"He even has that same vibrato huh? My, my, you really do have a knack for picking a partner, so to speak. Though, I wonder if this one will last past today."

To Nick's surprise, he could see the effects of Speedy's words all over Jack's face. His aim became a little shaky, and his normally very well kept demeanor was crumbling. Jack's eyes were wide and tense as he seemed almost desperate for an escape from the situation.

"Don't you dare touch him!" Jack shouted out in aggravation at Speedy's taunts, Speedy only smiled mischievously at Jack.

"Or what, huh? You gonna shoot me?" The cheetah pressed his gun firmer up against the fox's head as he held Nick closer to him.

"I wonder which one of us can pull the trigger faster, hmm? Really, if I knew it wouldn't cost me my life, I'd almost pull it right now just to see your face afterward."

A few small tears started to form at the corners of Jack's eyes as he very desperately tried to keep his cool. He stayed silent, and Nick figured he wasn't responding to the cheetah anymore.

"Aww, what's the matter, Jack, some bad memories coming back? You gonna cry again?" Speedy said in a mocking tone before letting out another laugh.

"You should just see the look on your face right now. Oh, Jack, Jack.. We both know how this is going to really end." he began. Nick fought against his grip momentarily, but the cold metal of the pistol against his head quickly reminded him of his situation. "You have no chance in coming out on top right now. Your best chance to make sure he lives is to let me go, and maybe If I'm feeling nice enough." A wide smile crept on the cheetah's face. "I'll keep my promise this time."

Jack hesitated on what to do, his composure only seeming to worsen with every word Speedy said to him. The bunny looked like he was going to have a breakdown if this kept up.

Nick found himself in a daze of confusion at the events unfolding before him right now. In his head, he had run multiple simulations on ways to handle this type of event cleanly and smoothly. He always tried to think a step ahead of any opposition or threat. But not once did he see a situation where Jack honestly lost his cool. There was no subtlety on the rabbit's face; Jack looked desperate and volatile.

Nick felt pretty confident he wasn't going to be killed by Speedy, despite his taunting and threats, but something about their history seemed to be making Jack think otherwise. Based on the way Jack was acting right now, he could only rely on himself at the moment.

Nick looked back in the corner of his eye behind the cheetah, whose excitement over the situation was obvious based off how his tail wandered back and forth. If there was one thing almost impossible to gain control over, it was a mammal's tail. He carefully followed his tail's lazy, predictable movement for a few moments, and in one fell swoop, stomped as hard as he could right on the tip of it.

Nick had experienced this exact feeling several times before, and as expected, the cheetah let out a loud yelp and released Nick from his claws. His gun fell from his paw as pain seared through his tail. Speedy had been so busy taunting Jack, he didn't even consider that his hostage might try and make a move.

Despite how Jack was just acting, once he saw a change in the situation, his body reacted on trained instinct. Taking advantage of the opportunity with excellent precision, Jack further disarmed Speedy with a shot at his palm while Nick delivered an elbow to his kidneys, causing Speedy to stumble away from the fox while simultaneously winding him.

Nick scrambled away from him as Jack, having a better position, leapt at Speedy, landing a solid kick to the jaw. The disoriented cheetah fell on all fours, and was swiftly pinned to the ground. Jack grabbed his arms and painfully tugged them behind him. Speedy's head landed hard on the floor while Jack cuffed his paws behind his back. Only a few seconds afterward, the backup ZPD officers burst into the office in response to the gunshot. Once inside, they saw Speedy snarling but subdued, and eased their triggers; in the end, the situation had been handled without any serious casualties. More officers ran in to deliver medical aid and apprehend the tiger antelope pair that had been taken down initially.

Speedy groaned as he tried to adjust his arms tied behind him. "You damned fucking rabbit, if you hadn't-"

Without a moment of hesitation, Jack leaned down and punched Speedy square in the snout. The meaty sound of Jack's fist breaking Speedy's nose filled the air. Even as he groaned in pain, the rage in Jack's eyes didn't cease as he continued glaring down at him. He raised his fist again when Delgato took hold of the rabbit's wrist.

"That's enough, Jack, we already caught him.. He won't be hurting anyone else anymore."

Jack took a moment to react to him, but eventually released the tension on his grip and relaxed his arm. Delgato released his grip on Jack in turn despite the fact he was still clearly furious. Nick looked at his partner with concern as he slowly extended his own paw towards him.

"Jack.."

The rabbit turned his head toward Nick, who recoiled at the unbridled aggression painted across Jack's face. His mood softened quickly as he caught himself however. In his eyes, Nick saw a turbulent mix of immense relief as well sadness as Jack stared back at him. Moments later, Jack looked away from Nick and frowned. He dusted himself off and stepped away from Speedy.

"L-Let's go…" His attempt at maintaining a shred of professional dignity crumbled with a shaky voice. He walked slowly toward the exit while the other officers tended to the criminals and reported in. a few of them grabbed Speedy to take him away as Nick watched his partner walk off feeling unsure of what to do. Fangmeyer walked up to Nick and laid a paw on his shoulder.

"You should go with your partner, Nick. Don't worry about any paperwork for right now.."

Nick didn't react as Fangmeyer retracted his paw and walked away towards the other officers. He paused and took a deep breath, halting the maelstrom of thoughts swirling in his mind about everything that had just transpired before eventually padding off after Jack.

"Fangmeyer said not to worry about paperwork right now. I think he's got it covered," Nick said to him as he quickly ran up to Jack. He only nodded his head in response. Nick didn't want to push his partner after the standoff, so he gestured toward one of the squad cars as the pair hitched a ride back to the precinct. Once there, Jack mentioned how he didn't feel like changing at the station, and just wanted to head to bed.

* * *

The ride home was filled with a deafening silence, and Nick couldn't tell if it was uncomfortable or not. It should have been familiar to him by now, but this one was different from the silence in the van just two hours ago.

This time around, Nick wasn't up for letting this oppressive atmosphere take control of the situation. Instead of trying to salvage the mood with awkward banter or going in straight for the kill, Nick instead maintained his cool stoicism. He had a plan to use the silence to his advantage. Jack lowered a window and let the cool night air filter into the car, allowing his ears to be lazily flapped around by the breeze. Nick was in no rush to get home, and he refused to let the silence get to him.

After ten minutes without any conversation, the first portion of Nick's plan came to fruition. Jack hadn't been paying too much attention, and noticed that Nick had completely passed his apartment. He looked around out the window and, a little confused, looked back at Nick.

"Uhm, Nick? I think you passed by my place." Nick's expression stayed the same as he continued driving.

"Yeah I know. I figured it might be more fun to stay at my place tonight, if that isn't a problem."

He came to rest at a red light and turned his head over to look at Jack, who struggled to make eye contact, opting instead to gaze out the window.

"Oh, uh, no, I.. suppose not. It's just a bit unexpected is all.," Jack said, his expression betraying his nonchalant tone. Nick only smirked as he continued to drive with an otherwise neutral expression.

"Glad to hear it."

It was only a few more minutes before Nick parked in front of his apartment complex. He killed the lights and stepped out of the car; Jack rolled up his window and did the same.

Nick walked rather smoothly in comparison to the stiff bunny next to him as they started heading up to his place. Nick still refused to budge to the somber mood Jack surrounded himself with as he unlocked his apartment door with an easy-going smile, opening it up for Jack.

"After you."

Jack walked through the doors with his head on a swivel, taking in the apartment as Nick closed it. Nick stretched himself wide, walked past Jack, and tossed himself onto his couch as if it were a normal day off.

"Well, that's enough action for one week, I'd say." Nick said rather conversationally. "Not that I didn't think we'd come out on top as usual, if we can escape a guard infested underground factory we can take care of a single cheetah I'd say."

Jack only stared at him. Nick thought he looked almost unsure of how to react. He didn't retreat from his gaze, though. "What, I got something in my fur?" he asked.

"…Nick, why are you acting like this." Nick pretended not to understand him, cocking an eyebrow

"What do you mean? Don't I always act like me?" Jack frowned a little at his response.

"Aren't you, I don't know, upset? Or curious, or, concerned I… I can't tell if you're being serious or if you're putting up some kind of facade right now. You don't have any questions for me or about what just happened? Any at all?"

Bulls-eye. Jack was opening up just like Nick hoped he would. He had a feeling he wasn't going to get anywhere if he was straightforward with Jack on sensitive topics like this. _You always have to meander a bit to get there with this bunny,_ Nick thought _._ With the hook in place, he stiffened his stance and straightened himself up on the couch; now was the time to take off his coy attitude.

"Of course I do, Jack. I absolutely want to know what happened and what's been on your mind. Even if I wasn't some super sleuth, I'd still be able to tell something is up, and not just a little something. Something serious, but..."

Nick relaxed himself again as he put his hands behind his head against the couch.

"But I'm not going to rush you. We're going to have plenty of time with each other in the future to talk about this and learn more about one another. I think I can push back my own curiosity and concern for the sake of giving you some breathing room. I mean, I've got some things in my past I'm not eager to dredge up on a moment's notice. Just... don't keep me waiting too long, bunny."

Jack took a second to think about his response before letting out a disarming sigh as his body finally relaxed. He walked up in front of Nick.

"Look I'll just — I'll just tell you right now, ok? We don't need to wait because, well, it really isn't as serious as it seems, and I don't want you to be concerned for me." Jack casually sat down next to Nick and adjusted his tone to be a little more neutral.

"As you were told in the debriefing, Speedy was the brother of the drug dealer you "took down" with Judy and the one I personally also "took down" so to speak," he began. "At the time, I was much younger and still in Zootopia. Speedy took on a rather intense grudge against me for putting his brother out of commission, despite the fact he wasn't arrested. Apparently, it was because of me that he quit."

Jack subconsciously reached his paw out near the desk as if extending for a drink, before suddenly realizing nothing was there. Nick couldn't help but smirk at his reaction.

"You want me to fix us up a little something?"

Jack shook his head. "No, no, it's fine. I don't want to make this a long story session, honestly. I'll get to the gist of it."

Jack relaxed a little bit more and went back to his story. "So, to sum it up, he was trying to take his brother's previous hold on the underground market and, much like today, slipped up. Apparently, despite how clever he is, all he seems to do is screw up in the end. I was sent after him due to my history of dealing with his family despite his open grudge against me. After a few... altercations, we ended up in a very similar standoff as today, with a random civilian as his hostage... a young woman."

Jack paused a brief moment as his expression became more solemn. "I don't really want to get into detail, but..I couldn't save her. He had been pushed into a corner and I had no choice but to let him go. I thought I could stop his escape with back up, but he used her as a shield and shot at us. He used her.. this poor woman as a shield with no hesitation." Jack took a deep breath before continuing. "The worst part is, she didn't even die from the gunfire. We never shot back; we didn't want to hit her. Once he escaped he simply… discarded her, and left her body behind."

Jack started to rub his paws lightly against each other, trying to keep himself composed. Nick slid over next to him and placed a paw on Jack's.

"And I'm guessing you.."

Jack nodded. "I didn't just get it from a report, I saw her dead with my own eyes, and I knew it was completely and utterly my fault." Jack said dejectedly. "At that point, I had killed a few mammals on missions before, but seeing her like that, unarmed, innocent, not involved at all — it was completely different than another dead thug."

Jack closed his eyes and stayed silent for several moments. He let out a deep sigh before opening up his eyes to a more neutral expression.

"Well, that the gist of it anyways. I got some really bad flashbacks back then and I.. I just crumbled. I suppose, in the end, there are some thoughts I can't completely shake, no matter how much training I go through."

Nick carefully studied Jack as he finished his story. Nothing about it seemed inconspicuous, and he had no reason to distrust his partner after all they've been through, but he couldn't stave off a nagging feeling in the back of his head. There were a few things that seemed off about his story and what happened, but he couldn't pin point what exactly they were. If it was anything he could only call it a… fox's intuition. And if there was one thing Nick had learned to trust as he got older, it was his intuition.

The two of them weren't just friends anymore; they were in a relationship now, one that Nick felt seriously about for the first time in his life. Even though a part of him told him not to push it, or that perhaps he was worrying over nothing and was just hoping for a more satisfying answer, he decided to try and dig a little deeper into the rabbit sitting next to him.

Nick looked down at Jack a little sternly and crossed his arms. "Is that really it? You make it seem a lot less serious than the way you were acting beforehand.."

Despite his accusatory wording, Nick tried his best to keep his tone neutral and unassuming. Jack didn't topple from his words like he feared he might. Jack instead reached out and rested a paw on Nick's arms.

"I'm fine now, Nick, honestly," Jack replied as a small smile played at the corners of his lips. "I'm fine now, because you're here with me."

Nick's defenses toppled at those simple words; a surprise attack from the enemy landed a direct hit on his heart. He couldn't completely stamp out his concerns, but he couldn't keep up being stern anymore with the look Jack was giving him. Nick's expression softened, along with his arms, as Jack took the opportunity and gave the fox a hug.

"Please, Nick, I know how I acted is… worrying, but I'm not as weak of a rabbit as you're probably thinking. I promise, I'm fine."

Nick gently hugged back his partner in response. "I know you're not weak, Jack. I'm just concerned. And no matter how strong you are, you know I'll never stop being able to worry about you."

Jack didn't respond right away and kept at the hug a little tighter before looking up at Nick.

"How's about we head to bed. But for now, just sleeping, that is.. I'm seriously tired."

The rabbit's words practically seeped into his nervous system as Nick felt the weight of his lack of sleep hit him like a brick.

"Sounds like a plan to me, bunny. Let's hit the hay before we pass out on the couch. I've slept on this thing before, and I don't recommend it."

The two slid off the couch, trudged into Nick's bedroom, and flopped onto the bed without a moment's hesitation. Nick quickly discarded his clothes down to his boxers as Jack mirrored him. The pair laid close together, with Jack's back pressed into Nick's chest fur, facing away from him. Nick smiled as sleep claimed Jack first, who had fallen still in his arms. The two didn't even feel the need to say goodnight to one another as their own fatigue simply did the work for them.

But as the night drifted on, and Nick was almost fully asleep, a sound woke him from his stupor. He opened one of his eyes and looked around searching for the source of the sound. Jack was deep in slumber, but his body was still moving. It was awkwardly fidgeting as his ears twitched and his paws occasionally tried reaching for something that wasn't there. Nick could hear a few sobs through his muffled voice; he moved into a better position to see Jacks' face, as Nick looked down at his partner in concern.

"Jack…"

He didn't seem to respond and kept trying to clutch at something, with a few seconds later an actual reply coming from him very softly.

"Nick… Don't... leave, please."

Nick very carefully grabbed a hold of Jack and turned him around so they were facing toward one another. Jack immediately took advantage and hugged up into Nick's chest as a few more tears streamed down his face. Nick pulled him closer and rubbed his back to comfort the bunny.

 _This isn't the kind of sleep a bunny that feels fine has... What really happened so long ago to make you act like this Jack? And why won't you tell me?_


	8. Deceit and Truth

Nick peeked from the corner of his eye at Jack while looking at his phone. The rabbit was busy eating a light sandwich he had ordered from the café, pretty much a usual for him at this point. Conversation between the two had momentarily died as they simply enjoyed the ambiance of the place while enjoying their own respective meals and drinks.

It was pretty common for the two to have off together after a mission, especially one that ended on such a dramatic note like the one yesterday. And it was customary, at least for the first day, to hang out together; they didn't exactly put much thought into it though, it was more so just how things unfolded.

But even though things appeared to be rather tranquil for the two despite all the events that have been unfolding lately, Nick's calm demeanor did not match his thoughts. Every time he would look at his seemingly carefree partner, he could see memories of that same face having a borderline breakdown at the mission just the other day or sobbing in bed.

Even if Nick was doing a good job of hiding what he was thinking from Jack, there was no lying to himself in the fact that he was upset at his partner. Only together for a few days and already Jack wasn't keeping the promise they made to one another; they had hit a road block in their relationship that Nick hadn't anticipated, or at least so quickly. Taking into consideration everything that had happened recently, and now having time to reflect on it, Nick could tell that the bunny was hiding something from him.

And Jack didn't at all seem keen on telling him what that something was. Despite Nick considering himself to be an expert at divulging information or reactions from mammals, Jack was in his own league. No matter what Nick did he would just as cleverly avoid any mention of the subject and pretendlike he was completely over what had happened. If it wasn't for the fact of last night Nick probably wouldn't be thinking what Jack told him might have been a lie. There was no doubting the rabbit's skill, and to be honest Nick didn't think he could overcome him without it being obvious.

Right now he was contemplating on exactly what his next action should be.. should he be straight forward, just tell him what he's been thinking? That was the most obvious answer to the dilemma, but it didn't seem like it was necessarily the best one. Jack and him are together now, and Nick wouldn't be with Jack if he knew he was the type to casually lie or hide his feelings from him… There was a reasoning to it, and if after everything they went through he still couldn't bring himself to say it.. it had to be serious.

Jack wasn't weak, and for something to make him act like that… there's just no way he could believe the story he told him last night, there had to be something more to it.

"You reading politics or something Nick? You're acting a little tense there."

Jack suddenly said somewhat curiously to the fox that had been lost in his own thoughts.

 _You even detected that much from me huh.. you really are a formidable bunny you know that._

"Well not quiet. I was actually just texting a friend of-"

Suddenly Nick's phone started to vibrate, as if turning his lie into reality someone actually was texting him at that exact moment.

Acting on his curiosity he quickly opened up his phone and looked at the message, only to see it was from Finnick. Funny enough he had just been thinking about Finnick in the back of his mind.. he'd like to introduce him to Jack at some point actually, maybe just as friends at first. But his mused expression quickly contorted into one of horror as he saw what the message really was.

It wasn't just a text message like he thought.. Finnick had sent a photo before his message. And although the picture was a little low in quality from being zoomed in, it was still as clear as day what it was; A picture of him and Jack rather aggressively kissing one another against the couch, Nick had left his window open that night!

Nick took a look at the message. "Hahaha, looks like the vixen chaser has become a fluff chaser, and a gay one to boot! You know you're supposed to eat your prey, not make out with them and fuck them!"

 _You've got to be freaking kidding me._

Nick thought to himself as he shoved his face down on the table feeling the need to hide in shame. Jack perked his ears up at curiously at Nick.

"Uuhh.. did something happen?" Jack asked inquisitively.

Nick realizing he was being too obvious opened one of his eyes at Jack before scrambling back up on his seat.

"Ahh yes yes everything's fine… I mean, no, no it isn't but… aaaahh.."

Nick trailed off as he knew it was far too late to exactly hide the fact he saw something big, but he also absolutely did not want to tell Jack what it was. But before Jack could respond Nick's phone suddenly went off again. He immediately opened back up his app to see, as he expected, another message from Finnick.

"Meant to ask you a few days ago but you should head over to the Squealer Bar today, maybe even buy me a drink unless you want everyone on the streets seeing you with your new prey thing."

Nick knew Finnick would never actually do something like that, but that damn fox was really pushing it right now…

In that same moment however, Nick actually remembered the bar he was talking about was only an 8 minute walk from here. The moment you passed 56th street things tended to get a bit more raunchy, but it was still considered safe in the vast scheme of things; a pretty decent place for a middle man.

Nick after seeing the text quickly stood up from his seat to the rabbit's further bewilderment. "…I need to go see a friend for a little awhile, I promise to be back soon though."

Jack let out a curious hum as he leaned on the table with a small smile on his face. "Will you tell me the details once your back?"

Nick having basically gotten a subtle "ok" from Jack grabbed a few of his things and turned around from the table.

"Maybe… don't know if I've been too good on details these past few days though." Nick said rather cryptically as his own personal jab to Jack. Nick swiftly walked off right afterward, leaving Jack at the table simply more confused at his statement.

* * *

Nick paused for a moment looking at the entrance to the bar, his expression of hesitation was mixed with a look of irritation. He had hoped to maybe tell Finnick in his own terms, if at all.. But he had to face the music now, even if only due to the fact he may need his help.

As Nick walked through the familiar setting he spotted the small fox up near the corner of the bar, each bar he went to he really did always pick the same spot. Before Nick could even get to a seat the fennec was already staring at him with a shit eating grin, motioning him to sit next to him.

Nick hesitated again at even doing this but regardless pushed his feet forward and sat down next to the fox. Before even an exchange could be said between the two a moose behind the bar walked up to Nick with a smile on.

"Well Well look what the fox dragged in, and here I thought I'd never see you again."

Finnick let out a deep snicker still looking at Nick. "He'll take a liter of your Tourist Trappe." Finnick answered for Nick as the bartender not even second guessing it left to get him some.

Now leaning on the bar Nick intensely peered his eyes over at Finnick. He wasn't saying anything but his expression was far from amused; Finnick himself only continued to smugly smile at him however.

"What's that look for huh? Not gonna tell your former partner about your new mate? You're new, fluffy, male mate?" Finnick said while holding back his laughter.

The bartender put down Nick's drink for him on the table, ignoring the conversation and moving onto a new costumer.

"Well I was maybe thinking about mentioning it, but I decided against it sense I knew how you'd react…" Nick ended a little coldly before taking a swig of beer.

"Aww come on Nick don't be like that. The picture was a complete coincidence I swear. I wasn't even going to visit you I was just passing by and remembered that you lived there, and when I looked up at your room and saw the window open with the lights on well… there was no chance in hell I was gonna miss putting that one over your head!"

Nick thought about quipping at him with something clever but he was far from the mood of doing that, their relationship had just barley started and too many things were still going through his head. He barely had a single day of excitement and thrill of being with a first time lover before something came up and put a damper on it; hell even in that short time span he didn't get nearly as much closure or intimacy as he had hoped.

Finnick seeming to notice Nick's continued frustration gave him a sudden few pats on the back. "Hey man come on you know I'm just fucking with you, I ain't gonna actually share the pictures if you're really thinking that."

Nick looked over at Finnick for a brief moment before giving him a weak smile and grabbing his drink. "I know you wouldn't do that, don't worry."

Finnick's expression changed into a somewhat neutral one as he watched Nick take another sip of his beer. "..You know I don't actually care about the fact you're with a bunny or a male right? I mean you know me; I'm with all kinds of odd ball types, so I certainly ain't one to judge. It's like I always say, if it's cute well, fuck it."

Finnick let out a small chuckle at his own joke and went in for a huge swig of beer, Nick's face however remained somewhat solemn.

"…. His name is Jack Finnick, he's the partner I've been talking to you about."

Finnick had to spit out some of his beer just to stop himself from choking on it as he gave Nick a wide eyed expression.

"Yo seriously!?"

Nick gave him a simple nod back as he let the information soak into the fennec's brain, Finnick himself seeming to get a better picture and put on a more serious expression himself.

"Damn so.. you serious about this then? I mean I know you said you never cared about the whole species thing but I never seen you actually date anyone but a vixen, let alone even a dude." Finnick rubbed the back of his head. "…And to actually be going out with that partner you gushed about and all that… this ain't no fling is it?"

Nick shook his head as a plain grin appeared on his face. "I've really fallen head over heels for that silly little bunny. Don't even know when or how it happened, but I know it's what I want."

Finnick didn't respond right away, he let a very small silence permeate between the two as he hung his head low for second still thinking things through. A few moments later he looked back at Nick who was taking another sip of his beer.

"So like… is everything going ok with you two?"

He could always count on that small little fox to get the bigger picture.

"Well not exactly.. but, it's a pretty long story to be honest, and the answers are In the details. I don't know if you'd really-"

"Oh shut up and spit out already! Don't even try pretending like you don't have something to say to me, besides I got time to drink a few more beers today; so let's hear it."

Nick couldn't help but let a small smile creep up on his face from Finnick's rough yet oddly warm words.

"I guess I'll start with last night.."

* * *

Nick saw the his own reflection on the surface of his glass as he finished the last drop along with the last piece of his story; he always did have a bad habit of drinking a little too much when he was talking or something was on his mind.

Finnick himself was already on his second beer but as always the little fox barley even got, from all their time they've hung out together Nick has never once seen him even get drunk actually.

"That's a pretty dense story.. you sure you ain't mixing it up with a lynx soap opera or something?"

Nick shook his head. "Oh how I wish that were the case bud, but nope, it's the life I'm living right now, and my solution is just as messy and unclear as the situation."

"Well it's at least a start.." Finnick replied rather dryly before going in for another drink.

Nick turned his head rather curiously as Finnick's statement. "You mean.. you don't think it's a terrible plan?"

Finnick shrugged back. "Well It's not exactly the best one.. but I don't think it's a terrible one either. Honestly if this bunny is as clever as you say he is, then take it from someone that gets his mentality a little better.. he probably ain't gonna spill the beans just from asking him ."

Nick turned himself around so he was facing Finnick directly. "Then.. what do you think I should do? I know you say I shouldn't rely too much on your opinion but, I only have a vague plan.. and don't know where exactly to go from here."

Finnick crossed his arms and closed his eyes, a strange aura of intensity surrounding the fox as he did so.

"Hmmmm… well, if you really want to know, I think that you'll find that the best lies are rooted in truth. Not only do mammals do it to rationalize their bullshit half lies, but it makes it more convincing sense it's close to what actually happened, without the full story. And if he really is this super amazing secret agent you say he is, making that sort of lie and hiding it is like second nature to him, I'm willing to bet he's had to do that kind of shit or months at a time in the past."

Finnick suddenly then pointed up a finger in the air before opening his eyes at Nick with a small smirk. "But.. if he's really in love with yah, then there's no way he would feel good about doing that sort of thing. So I think if you go with your plan of trying to dig up some dirt on what actually happened, then as you said you might have the perfect opportunity to surprise and wring the truth out of him."

Nick turned back around in his seat and thought on the small fox's words for a moment. For a second he seemed to have some kind of retort but he stopped himself just before saying something as a realization came into his mind.

"Wait.. rooted in truth.. his story! Then maybe… maybe the story he said really did happen but.." Nick's exaggeratingly put his paws on his chin for a moment as his brain continued to churn the information.

"… A random women, he said it was a random women but.. Speedy may have mentioned something about picking a partner and.. mentioned this woman's personality…"

Nick feeling sobered up from this sudden discovery instantly stood up from the bar stool.

"Sorry for leaving on short notice, but I think I have something I need to do while the iron is hot…"

Nick quickly put down a 20$ bill on the table for his tab and without another word almost ran out of the bar. Finnick watched him leave with a shake of his head and content look on his face as he casually took the 20$ bill and stuffed it in his pocket.

"Dumb love struck fox.."

* * *

Nick tapped away at his phone as he entered the ZPD building, Jack of course not knowing where Nick was right now.

"Sorry for not stopping by Jack but something important came up, we'll hang out a little later today or at worse tomorrow."

Nick waited for a few moments before approaching the front desk, having a feeling that he was probably waiting on his phone at the café. As expected he got a reply right away.

"Hmm I see, well if you think it's important then no big deal, I'll manage I think. But come back soon ok?"

And with a small hesitation afterward, Jack sent another message right afterward.

"Love you"

Nick felt a little splinter go up through his spine at that last one. The two didn't act very differently in public, but little messages like that were like reminders about the fact they actually **are** together as more than just friends; and the message egged him on to find out the truth that much more.

Clawhauser was busy typing away at his phone in an almost dramatic fashion as Nick approached the front desk, the large cheetah taking a moment to even notice he had arrived.

"Oh Nick hey! Oh man I didn't even notice you there sorry, I was just busy defeating the forces of Xeno on my smart phone…. And uuhh, doing my job of course."

Nick only smiled at Clawhauser's usual antics as he leaned his elbow casually on the front desk.

"So Clawhauser, buddy, I need a little favor from yah.. And it's an important one."

The cheetah gave Nick a warm smile. "After all those doughnuts you've given me I think I can spare at least one. What do you need, maybe some dirt on Fangmeyer drunk at the bar?" Clawhauser mused with light giggle.

Nick shook his head. "No dirt this time, I don't consider drunken dancing an important favor after all. What I need is access to some of the ZPD's archives, specifically something with my partner Jack."

Clawhauser's face turned a bit more serious and wide eyed at Nick's request, the cheetah a few seconds later looking off to the side with an obvious nervous sweat.

"Oh Uuhh jeez Nick I.. I really don't know if I can do that.."

Nick closed his eyes for a second and put his two paws together in front of him for a brief moment.

"Look buddy.. we've known each other's for.. about almost a year now, at least long enough to say we are friends?"

"Weeeellll you do always know where to get the best sweets." He said almost drooling a little at the end of his sentence.

"Er right, well look I know for a fact you know everyone in this station… including whoever the archiver here is. And I'm also willing to bet that you could also persuade said archiver to open up a certain file about my partner that I need."

Clawhauser scratched one of his cheeks. "I know you said it's important and all that but I mean… this is information on a previous secret agent were talking about, I reeeeaalllyy don't think I should.."

Nick paused for a moment at his response and dramatically sighed with a dejected expression. "Alright well I tried…" He said as he started to turn around and sulkingly walk away. "I guess I just.. won't be able to bring you anymore of those doughnuts from now on.. really is such a shame."

Clawhauser let out a sudden gasp and leaned forward in his seat. "W-Wait you can't just stop bringing those in, nobody else here gets how good Cindy's bakery is!"

Nick lazily shrugged back. "Yeah well maybe somebody else will. It's too bad too, they even had some seasonal pumpkin spiced chocolate and strawberry filled doughnuts in this month… oh well."

Clawhauser chewed at his fingers and jumped up and down between his legs as Nick continued to walk away; the fox could practically hear his apprehension.

"Nnngggh okay, okay fine I'll help you! I'll get Nigel to do me a favor sense he owes me for helping him out with his choreographed dancing, but you better come back to work with two dozen of those specialty doughnuts!"

Nick putting on a smug smirk turned back to Clawhauser. "You got yourself a deal.."

* * *

Nigel typed away at the computer with a rather bored expression as Nick patiently waited behind him. Even for a male deer, the guy was quiet gruff looking. In fact it was almost like any fun he had in life had been completely sucked out of him in his younger years; it was hard to imagine someone like him doing dancing…

"Alright I found the specific file you were looking for, most of his agent work is completely restricted but there are still a few cases still available of his short time in Zootopia itself. But unfortunately there is very little here on the specific mission you are asking about." He said in a monotone voice.

Nick had a feeling this would be the case. "Doesn't matter, show me anything you can."

Nigel typed in a few more things before something appeared on screen.

"As far as the mission you were looking for it's mainly just a few bits of information on Speedy himself and his relationship with his brother.. says he escaped. But as far as Jack himself uhm…. Oh this is interesting."

The deer pulled up another file on the computer. "There is actually a filed psychiatric report on Jack, specifically tied to the case."

Nick's ears perked in curiosity as he quickly went up next to the deer and looked at the screen. "Let me see that.."

Nick started reading the report to himself.

 _ **Jack Savage, assigned to Jessica Rosaria.**_

 _ **Analysis: Suffering from severe trauma, depression, and potential mental instability.**_

 _ **Incident: Death of Skye Vulpes**_

 _ **Psychiatrists Notes: Jack having lost someone on an interpersonal level is currently in a state of grievance; he is having trouble accepting Skye's death and is consistently blaming himself for it. Progress on his current condition is slow, immediate job relocation maybe suggested for safety of the patient's mental health.**_

Nick thought carefully about the information presented to him. _Skye Vulpes? I don't think Jack has ever once mentioned her before. And important to him on a personal level.. so much for just some random civilian. To think that iron willed bunny went through something so traumatic…_

"Did you get what you wanted?" Nigel asked the fox boredly.

"Maybe not what I expected, but I have another lead at least…"

* * *

Jessica stared at Nick with a very straight un-amused look, the fox looking back with a both nervous and pleading smile on his face.

"…Nick, you realize I cannot disclose information about any previou-"

"Yes yes I know that okay!" Nick shouted out before quickly calming himself. "I.. know but.. please this is… I.. I don't know what else to do ok!? This information it's… it's really important for me and our… relationship, which by the way almost nobody else knows about except you now."

Jessica let out a sigh before crossing her arms. "And is that supposed to make me feel special somehow? I listen to people's secrets for a living you know."

"Yeah I know alright I… look.. what is it going to take to get you to tell me about what happened? You want money? I'll gladly give you any amount you want if it meant getting to know what happened. I can pull some strings for something else you want.. I know a lot of people after all, get you a date maybe.. something less legal."

Jessica raised her eyebrow at Nick. "Why are you going so far just for this information?"

"Because I want this relationship to work!" Nick yelled out before slamming his fist down on the desk in the office, calming himself down afterward.

"I… I really don't know what else to do. It's been such a short time… and maybe I'm just overacting thinking this is so damn important, maybe I don't know if the two of us are even meant for one another… but I want this to work so badly dammit…"

Nicks voice started to crack a little as his tone became somewhat rough.

"I barley even got a day with him before this shit came up… I haven't even been in anything remotely close to a true relationship tell now, and already it's like life doesn't want me to have it. And… if this little thing between us ends up becoming the driving force separating us down the line, and this information you have ends up becoming the reason we stick together.. Then you better be damn well sure I'll find a way to get it, legally or not."

Nick's tone become much more determined by the end of his sentence as Jessica unflinchingly stared at the fox for quite some time before even responding.

"…You know, you really don't have to give me such a melodramatic speech. I have to give you credit for coming up with that last minute though. And… I suppose sense you were only half bullshitting me, I might be able to help you a little."

Not even caring that Jessica partially saw through his facade Nick's face lit up with joy.

"T-Then you'll tell me-"

" **Part** of what you want to know… sense only a part of your own speech was convincing."

Nick frowned a little bit at her response.

"Don't worry, I have more reasoning for it then just to sass you." Jessica continued. "Much like you I can understand how Jack maybe a very hard nut to crack, and how vital this information may actually be in getting him to open up. But.. I also believe when it comes to relationship, communicating with one another is key; telling you the entire story would make it to one sided. So instead of telling you everything, I want you to try using what information I have for you to get the full story out of him."

Nick smiled at her in response and seemed ready to say something before Jessica interrupted him once again, this time holding up one of her hooved digits in the air at him.

"But **I** will not be the one to tell you I'm afraid, I adhere very strongly to my ethical code and not just for legal reasons. However.. I can redirect you to someone that can tell you what you need to know."

* * *

Nick stood in front of a door for a brief moment, almost like he was examining the details on the white painted wood. He took a deep breathe before knocking a few times, an older looking white vulpine opening it up a few seconds later.

"Oh why you must be Nick! And you're so much handsomer then you sounded on the phone!" The vulpine quipped electing a somewhat solemn smile from the fox.

"Hello Mrs. Vulpes.. Sorry for contacting you on such short notice, and I know you don't really know who I am but-"

"Oh shush Mr. Wilde, that little story you gave me was more than enough reasoning to chat with you, it's been oh so long sense I've heard anything about Jack after all. And I was just so thrilled to know that sweet little bunny was able to find someone else in life."

Nick chuckled lightly. "Thank you Mrs. Vulpes… uhm, may I?"

"Oh sure sure come on in! And please, call me Marie."

Nick slowly took a sip of tea that Marie had made for him as the two sat in the rather flowery but comfy living room chairs. The place was adorned with an almost strange amount of flowers and white coloring while the rest of the place was taken up by old china plates and adornments; the strange set pieces taking up space on any shelf they could fit on. The place by all means screamed of old, yet Nick couldn't help but find it oddly comforting.

Marie took her own sip of tea and looked down on the ground with a somewhat sad look on her face. She was contemplating the rather long story Nick had just told her, and she seemed to be thinking about what to say next. The vulpine slowly put down her cup on the table across from the two of them.

"So he's not talking about it huh? Sounds like the young little bunny I used to know has gone through a lot sense I last saw him.. but deep down, I bet he hasn't really changed."

Marie said with a small smile on her face as Nick's own expression remained somewhat neutral.

"I.. don't really know what else to do right now." Nick said with uncertainty. " And to be honest, as things currently are I don't think he'll be opening up about it anytime soon. I don't know how much you know about the whole situation.. and I know asking about your daughter's death isn't easy.. but…"

Marie simply kept the smile on her face as she casually took a hold of her tea cup. "It's been a long time sense then Mr. Wilde.. Believe me I've had plenty of time to accept what happened. Every parent wants their children to outlive them.. but you know, life is full of unexpected twists and turns."

Marie slowly swirled the tea in her cup to a small whirlpool in contemplation as Nick examined her expression.

"You don't have to tell me all the details if you don't want… I just-"

"Skye and Jack did always have an interesting relationship with one another." Marie suddenly said interrupting the fox's words.

"The reason I know so much about him was because Skye always mentioned him to me. Back then It always seemed like the two did almost everything together, eating out, movies, dancing, pretty much anything you could think of. She came home one day, mentioning a bunny of all species she met at a bar, and that things just hit off between them. She said Jack didn't really know many people in the city, so any chance he got he would be with her.. I'd guess any other friends he made were probably through my daughter."

Marie took a sip of her tea.

"And finally one day I met Jack myself, and even to an old lady like myself he was so genuinely kind and caring.. I never got the feeling he was acting that way just to impress me because I was her mother, it felt like it was just the kind of mammal he was. It was at that moment that I thought with certainty that those two were made for one another, that despite all the failed romances my daughter used to have, she had finally found the one."

Marie's expression turned somewhat bitter as she again put down her tea, setting her paws calmly on her legs.

"But.. apparently I was the only one really thinking that. When I asked Skye about it, she said they were only friends, and that she would never be with a rabbit. I tried explaining that I didn't think Jack felt the same but she wouldn't listen to me, I think she adamantly just.. wasn't interested in anyone that wasn't a fox. And many months passed sense that conversation, and apparently Jack had opened his feelings to her, only to get promptly rejected afterward."

Marie let out a small sigh.

"But even so that didn't stop Jack, he started actually going out of his way to prove that he could be a good boyfriend to her.. Honestly he went so far that Skye of all foxes started to actually feel guilty about it. There was no doubt that rabbit was madly in love with her, and he wasn't ready to take no for an answer until he knew with certainty. But before anything could come of it… she…"

Marie put a paw on her left arm as her face scrunched up slightly.

"…She didn't make it that far. I don't know all the details of what happened that day.. but what I do remember is Jack coming over here to tell me the news before any official report, and even though I was the one that raised that child sense her birth, Jack was the one that ended up needing comfort that day. I had dealt with many hardships in my life, yet never had I once seen a mammal as distraught as Jack was; seeing such a strong willed young man break down like that was almost as heart breaking as her own death. He stayed with me at the house for the entire night that day, I gave him Skye's bed hoping it might be therapeutic somehow. But I don't know if it helped or not sense by the time morning came, he was gone…. It's quiet strange to think it happened so many years ago, I still remember it like it was yesterday."

Marie closed her eyes for a brief moment before letting out a relieving sigh, a small smile returning to her face afterward.

"And well… I basically haven't seen him sense. Not that I by any means expect to of course but, that's just as far as my own knowledge extends. Anything else you'd need to ask Jack himself, but given your relationship I'd sure he'd be willing to if you asked."

Nick clasped his paws together on his lap as he took in the story Marie had told him. The idea that Jack had to go through all of that hurt the fox, but what hurt him more was being lied to about it. It's not like Nick himself couldn't fully understand, he had plenty of terrible events in his life he honestly winced at even thinking about of having to tell Jack… but at the same time, if those events had come up to the fore front of his life, he couldn't see himself lying about it, not anymore.

"I hope I was of some help to you Mr. Wilde." Marie said innocently interrupting Nick's thoughts.

"Yes.. you were very helpful Mrs. Vul… Marie. I think I got all the information I need, and I'm sorry for having to-"

"No more apologies Mr. Wilde, I told you all of that of my own volition.. Save your apologies for those that need them."

Nick couldn't help but almost smile at seeing such a strong-minded vixen, she certainly fit the stereotype in that regard. However Nick losing track of time suddenly took out his phone and looked at the close, surprisingly it was only about 6:00pm… But he wasn't sure if he should say something to Jack right away, so much had been happening between them in such a short time span..

"I think the sooner you tell Jack the better." Marie suddenly said as if reading Nick's mind.

Nick gave her a somewhat shocked expression, Marie only looked at Nick with a warm smile until Nick himself responded with his own smile. "Alright.. I'll do as you say then. Thanks again for telling me all this and well.. even believing me in the first place."

Marie got up from her seat electing for Nick to do the same as she walked up to him.

"Oh think nothing of it dear, us foxes can tell when someone's truly lying after all.. even in my old age." Marie said giving Nick a playful wink.

Nick let out a low chuckle. "Oh believe me I would never attempt to pull wool over your eyes Marie, but I think I may need to show a certain bunny that he shouldn't attempt to do the same to me either. That rabbit's about to get taught a lesson he won't soon forget.."


	9. Jack's Past

Jack couldn't help but to cock an eyebrow at Nick while the fox drove the two of them back home that night. It was pretty clear he was curious about the fact Nick had been gone for at least good portion of the day, yet Nick didn't seem too keen on telling him why at the moment. For the most part the fox had stayed fairly quiet when the two met up again, and even now he simply kept his head straight towards the window while paying attention to the road.

Jack started to be getting a little irritated not only at his silence, but the fact he was once again wearing those freaking sunglasses, other than the fact there's no point at wearing them when it's not light outside, but it always made conversation with him more difficult. Often times Nick did it more so as a joke than anything, but he also partially liked to annoy Jack with it; the bunny never specifically mentioned it but Nick could tell he didn't like it.

Jack continued to stare at Nick for a few more seconds before he began to speak up. "Sooo Nick, you gonna tell me what you've been-"

"When we get home Fluff." Nick interrupted in a somewhat cold demeanor, simply electing more silence from the rabbit.

Nick knew he was maybe being a little too obvious about how he was feeling, but in reality he was trying much harder to even just keep the cold demeanor he was wearing right now. Everything was just happening way too fast for him right now.. Their time together in just the past few days had ranged from some incredible emotional highs to many staggering lows as well; and the affect was starting to wear on the two.

Nick himself found it increasingly difficult to upkeep his mask as the days went on, the constant turbulence was leaving many nicks and scratches on his usual smug and calm demeanor. Wearing it now didn't have nearly the effect it did when he was at his best, his face felt almost itchy and uncomfortable from just having to put it on right now.

And it was much more subtle for the super spy Jack, but Nick having spent a lot of time with him could tell the events transpiring lately were also leaving its toll. He was more quiet and despondent then he usually would be with Nick, clearly still trying to digest his own thoughts on everything that had been happening lately.

Nick couldn't blame the bunny though; he was doing the same in a much different manner. In a way the two almost needed that unintentional little break from one another today, it allowed them atleast a little bit of extra time to take in everything that's happened. But considering what Nick had been doing during that time period, he wasn't too sure if that break was for the better.

 _Should I really say it to him today? So much has been happening lately that I wonder if it might be better to wait… Or would that actually make things worse?_

Nick contemplated as he continued to silently drive to his home. A part of him was almost wishing he hadn't gone on such a crusade to find the truth earlier today; this wasn't something either of them needed to deal with right now or should be dealing with in such a short time period.

But he had a feeling he wouldn't be able to sleep at night if he really did push it back, he couldn't ignore it now that he knew the truth. He didn't want to hide it, it was already difficult enough not just angrily spouting it at Jack in some desperate attempt to release all the emotions and feelings going through him.

Of course Nick knew better than to do that, he **was** better than that. This was one of many difficult situations that he has had to suck it up and plow through, regardless of how he really feels or not. Once the two of them were home, he just needed to let it all out on the table.

 _Remember Nick execution is more important than subject… don't fuck this up by getting to angry at him._

Jack sank himself back in his seat as he looked over at Nick, despite his sunglasses and attempts at keeping an at least somewhat cool expression, the bunny could see his subtle apprehension and it didn't look pretty. In a somewhat desperate attempt to change the atmosphere Jack spoke up to his partner.

"So were getting pretty close.. you want to maybe head to my house today instead? I got some really great wine we can try and finish up." Jack said trying to sound cheerful.

"Sure thing Jack." Nick responded plainly, somewhat halting any advancement Jack was trying.

The fox could tell just from his own response that this situation really couldn't wait, he didn't even want to humor Jack who was none the wiser at the moment. He felt too serious, he had to many thoughts swarming in his head and he was far from in an ideal mood to be doing this today; but even so he knew it had to be done.

No more conversation broke out between the two after Jack's small request. Once the two of them had arrived, they left the car as an almost automatic response to the vehicle having stopped. They walked into the apartments, took off their jackets, and found themselves sitting at a table together with a bit of red wine.

Barley a word had even been uttered during their time from the car to sitting at the table, Nick almost seemed like he wasn't there with the way he was acting. And Jack didn't need to be a genius to tell whatever happened today clearly affected him in some way.

Trying to get the ball rolling he started to speak up. "…So do you uhm, want to mention anything that.. happened today? I can understand if maybe you're not in the mood for it right now, but I can tell-"

"I don't know Jack, do you have something to say?"

Nick replied in a somewhat despondent tone, still not giving Jack much breathing room.

The rabbit unsure of how to exactly respond awkwardly tapped his digits on the desk with an unsure expression. "Well I was the one asking about you're day… as for me all I did was talk to a few old buddies of mine before visiting a different friend of mine here, it wasn't to eventful."

Nick's expression kept neutral as he took a sip of his wine. "Is that so..."

Nick definitely wasn't making this easy for the bunny, the way he was treating him now he was starting to get the hint that Nick was actually more upset directly at him rather than just something having happened.

But as the realization appeared on his face, Nick quickly spoke up again before he could respond. "To be honest I haven't been thinking about anything that happened today… I was sort of wondering about yesterday actually. You're reaction was pretty extreme, especially for a woman you don't even know…"

Jack looked down on the table wearing a subtlety nervous expression on his face, in a way it was almost too obvious for the rabbit. But other than his nervousness there was nothing much else to his expression, he still wasn't too sure what Nick was getting at even if he maybe had an idea in the back of his mind.

"Oh well.. if that's all you were wondering about it was just-"

"Her name was Skye right.."

Nick said bluntly to him. As expected any mask that Jack himself was wearing was completely destroyed just from that simple word, the look on his face was almost one of horror as Nick uttered the vixen's name.

It only took Jack a few seconds to understand what Nick uttering her name meant for him right now, in almost an instant it had looked as if Jack practically broke out in a cold sweat. The bunny found himself unable to even look up at Nick right now, his face contorted into one of strain as his ears sunk down behind him. "H-How… How did you know her…"

Jack didn't even finish his sentence as his expression turned into one of introspection as the implication sunk deeper into the rabbit. Nick didn't shrink as his partner's reaction however and continued to speak.

"I knew something was wrong when you went to sleep with me last night. It wasn't only just the outburst you had at Speedy that day.. but in your sleep, you ended up crying and calling out my name, almost like I was about to leave you."

Nick observed Jack or a moment as he started speaking the truth to him, for the most part the bunny simply kept an almost exasperated expression on as he still couldn't seem to bring himself to look up from the table.

"I got in contact with Skye's mother who told me what she knew about what happened between you and Skye. You were in love with the vixen, and even though she didn't return the favor to you, you still couldn't help but hold that same feeling. The woman you weren't able to save wasn't a random civilian, it was the mammal you had fallen in love with wasn't it…"

Nick couldn't help but have an irritated edge to the words he spoke to Jack, he knew better then to have an outburst at his partner but he was far from happy about having to force this out of Jack given the circumstance of what has happened between them.

Jack himself seemed to be having a difficult time even coming up with an answer, any defenses he once had were already shot down at this point, and all that was left was a rabbit desperately clinging to the logical and more tempered side of himself.

"I… I didn't mean to hurt-"

"Then why did you lie to me!" Nick said unable to hold himself back as his fist banged hard against the table, his eyes gleaming with anger as he stared Jack down for an answer.

Jack flinched at his fist slamming the table, but even so the bunny still continued to try not to let his emotions get to him. Despite his twitching nose and his almost shaking body the rabbit finally turned his head away from the table to look Nick's eyes.

"I-If I tell you.. can you.. I... can you just.. listen to everything I have to say?" Jack said almost pleadingly to him.

As much as a part of Nick wanted to just go off on Jack right now, he held back his tongue. Deep down he knew that this wasn't easy for Jack just as much as it wasn't easy for him, it would be unfair to really yell at him without hearing his side of the story.

Trying to calm himself down Nick retreated back some his anger and closed his eyes while let out a forced sigh. A few seconds later he opened them back up and looked back at Jack, still holding a clearly irritated gaze.

"Only a few days ago we promised that we wouldn't lie to one another.. no matter what. And before even a week had passed, you already broke that promise. I'll listen to what you have to say, but I can't promise I'll like it."

Jack's head very slowly nodded in response to Nick as he seemed to understand the position he put himself in. Before saying something the rabbit finished off the rest of the wine in one fell swoop in a somewhat forced attempt to relax.

"Alright Nick… I'll, I'll tell you everything ok. No hiding or bullshit. As I'm sure you were told, it all started when I feel for Skye. I was new to Zootopia, didn't know many animals, and she was one of the first mammal's I had met here. It was just a brief encounter at a bar, but already she had taken my breathe away that day. Intelligent, immaculate, funny, snarky, perhaps a little cynical.. yet oh so friendly once you got to know her."

Jack couldn't help but wear a sad smile on his face as he got lost in some of his own thoughts. "I had never met anyone like her compared to bunny burrow, she was one of a kind to me. We started to hang out almost every single day if we got the chance, and it didn't take long for me to learn I liked her as more than just a friend. She told me everything going on in her life, I revealed almost everything about myself to her, all her friends became my friends… In my mind it felt like we already a couple before actually being in a relationship. But of course.. being a couple in your mind is no good. Once I had finally gotten the courage to even say something to her, I was rejected almost without second thought"

Jack closed his eyes briefly as his voice started getting a little calmer. "In hindsight I should have known better, she liked me but she had no true interest in anyone beyond her own species. Not that I could blame her, I mean.. it isn't a common thought, and clearly it was a thought she didn't even want to entertain. But even so I was young, still a bit naive, and I thought if I proved to her my love she would see what she was missing. But.."

Jack's voice trailed off momentarily as the small smile on his face quickly dispersed. "I didn't even get the chance for my naivety to be proven wrong. Speedy proved way more resourceful then I initially thought.. He was making noise specifically trying to get me to come out after him. He did research on me, and got someone to found out that I had an interest in Skye. I wasn't used to someone trailing me back then and wasn't even technically part of the M16 as an initiate and… I didn't see it coming. He found her, took her hostage, and lured me into a trap that I went into willingly."

For a second Jack stared blankly at his wine glass, contemplating if he should refill it. But after a few seconds he pushed back the glass as if rejecting the thought. "I was a lot cockier back then, still in the middle of my training I thought with the utmost certainty I could get her back. But once I fought my way to Speedy himself, I choked when I actually saw her. A large paw at her throat, gun against her head.. I was completely frozen stiff; I could barely hold my gun straight… And I had no choice but to let her go."

Jack tried to keep his emotions in check during his story, but even so he couldn't help but let a frown slip on his face. "I… I thought maybe I could trace him, I could corner him somehow, that maybe he would just take her with him as a captive. But when I went after his trial… she had… she was already.."

Jack's voice began to crack lightly at the last words of his sentence. A few mixtures of emotions crossed Jack's face as he continued to use what strength he had left to hold back what was trying to well up inside him. And in turn Nick's own neutral expression had softened a little at his words.

"And… I know what you're thinking, you're thinking why I would ever hide something like this.. Why wouldn't I just tell you from the get go? But way back when.. when you had only just gotten out of the psychiatrist office.. and you asked me if I had ever been in love. At the time I… I wasn't thinking about the consequences of what I said to you, I was still clinging to the idea that it was best to just be there as a supportive friend. I never imagined we'd be together like this.. I never imagined things would turn out anything like they are right now. And back then, I didn't want you to ever see the weak side of me.. the emotional side that I kept buried away, I wanted you to see me as an unflinching friend you could always rely on."

A few tears started to form in the corners of Jack's eyes as Nick's softening expression turned somber. "And I.. I didn't think I'd get close enough to you that I'd even get a chance to date, and even yesterday… I.. I still didn't want to worry you, o-or seem like I was just some burden on you… a-and I thought if I told you the truth, y-you'd just think I was weak.. a-and that I wasn't the rabbit you had fallen in love with. A-And then you'd think I was just a liar… and I just… I just.."

Jack put one of his paws on his forehead as a small sob started to break out. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry for being so weak… I'm such a useless fucking boyfriend. A-And I know I don't deserve to be with you after lying like this… A-And I.."

Without Jack even having realized it Nick had already gotten out of his seat and went over to Jack to give him a strong hug, Jack quickly hugged him back as he continued to cry. Any anger that had been rising in Nick's heart had been instantly quelled by Jack's words. Even after the two had already gotten together the rabbit was still putting too much strain on himself, after thinking he had to be the perfect friend to Nick, now he was thinking that he had to be the perfect boyfriend. He went this far just so that Nick wouldn't worry about him, Jack was probably going through trauma the whole day yesterday and even today, yet he still kept it hidden.

Most mammals that lie do it only to protect their own hide or show others a certain image they want to be perceived as, but Jack took the burden just so he wouldn't make Nick worry, it was much more selfless then how most other animals would do it. But even so, he was still feigning who he was, and it that wasn't the kind of Jack Nick wanted.

Nick through the hug started caressing his back as. "Shhhh easy buddy… It's going to be okay."

Jack shook his head against his chest as he continued to sob. "No, no it's not okay! I lied to you Nick, I-I.."

"Jack…" Nick suddenly interrupted looking down at the bunny. "Back when we made that promise to each other, you know that promise wasn't just for ourselves right?"

Nick grabbed Jack's shoulder's and pushed him back from their hug before looking into Jack's eyes with his own sorrowful expression. "That promise wasn't just to make sure we were honest with one another, it was also to make sure we would support each other no matter what happened. No matter what weak willed or terrible decision you ended up making, I made that promise to be there to listen to you and support you. I don't care if something that happened in the past made you seem weak, I don't care about any preconceptions of what it even means to be weak or strong… all I want to know is the truth, I want to see the real you."

Nick slowly began to caress Jack's cheek and wipe away some of the tears forming in his eyes. "Nothing you said means your weak Jack… all it means is your mortal. I don't want you to be some un-moving pillar of support in my life; I just want you to be my boyfriend."

Jack looked up at Nick with wide eyes as he felt more tears begin to form in his eyes. "N-Nick I.."

But Nick halted his words with his own advancement as he quickly bent his head forward toward the rabbit, his eyes already half closed.

"No more talking…"

With that last statement he pushed his muzzle right onto Jack's as the two engaged in a loving and passionate kiss. The tears that were forming in Jack's eyes quickly disappeared as he felt the heat of Nick's long tongue gently swirl against his own mouth. Any sadness or fatigue the two were feeling had almost evaporated at this point, the only emotion that remained overpowering any other feeling was a deep and requited love for each other.

The two ended up breaking the kiss with almost a pant as they had to take a second just to breathe in some air before talking again, the pair wearing a very clear and heavy blush on their face.

"Haa… Nick, are you really sure-"

"I said no more talking stripes." Nick responded in a somewhat exasperated voice as he tried to put on a smug grin.

"I know you're probably sick of me interrupting you at this point, but I think any more discussion about this would just be wasted at this point."

Jack seeming to get a bit more sense back into him gave Nick an understanding nod before lightly putting his arms around his stomach. "You know I still love you though right…"

Nick let out a small chuckle and quickly returned the hug. "Don't worry Jack, I know."

The rabbit looked up at Nick with a light smile on his face. "Look Nick I'll.. I'll just say that I promise to make it up to you okay? It's the very least I can do, and I won't be taking no for an answer."

Nick's grin became toothy and a little mischievous as he suddenly bent himself over to look closely into Jack's eyes. "Is that so? Well you know I have been entertaining a few thoughts in my head recently.. Would you be willing to make it up to me right now~" Nick said in a somewhat sexual tone.

However to Nick's disappointment Jack seemed to get the implication and retreated a little bit with a nervous grin. "Erhm.. m-maybe not right now… but I promise to eventually."

Nick raised an eyebrow at Jack's response, even in this context it was always strange seeing Jack get so flabbergasted. But even though Nick sort of wanted to go off the high of the situation, there was no point in forcing Jack to do it or rushing it for that matter.

"Hmm very well then Stripes.. Maybe not today.. but one day I expect to see the favor returned, in full." Nick said with a slight grin at the rabbit.

Jack hiding some of his nervousness put on a slightly seductive look to him pushed one of his fingers down his chest. "It's a promise… but for now, how about we just watch a movie and get some early sleep."

It was a little too obvious the rabbit was forcing that one, but Nick appreciated it regardless. "Whatever you say fluff.. but if you keep pushing your finger against my chest, I'll have no choice but to put that action into my own paws you know."

Jack giggled a little bit before giving Nick a quick kiss on the cheek. "Duly noted.. but for now, how's about we finish that wine?"


End file.
